The final result of the Maharashtra Assembly election is yet to be announced, but, the trends are very clear. BJP, which went alone in the last assembly election, has suffered a setback. As per trends, the party is expected to win around 100 seats, 22 lower than the last assembly election.
Shiv Sena, which played the role of a junior partner for the first time, is expected to improve its tally from 63 in the last election to 66. The party fielded Aditya Thackeray from Worli constituency of Mumbai, and he is leading by a good margin.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), led by veteran politician Sharad Pawar, is expected to improve its tally from 41 seats in the last assembly election to 50 this time. Congress could not improve its performance this time too. In fact, the party’s tally is expected to dip by one seat, from 42 in last assembly election to 41.
Congress and NCP had a pre-poll alliance and the combined tally of both parties is expected to be around 90. Therefore, the alliance does not have the strength to form a government. But, given the fact, Shiv Sena is not happy with BJP and the party is eying for CM chair, it might ally with Congress and NCP.
Shiv Sena, being the largest party in the alliance, will naturally become claimant of the CM post. The combined tally of Shiv Sena, NCP, and Congress would be above 150, against 145 seats required to form majority government in 288 seats state assembly.
Uddhav Thackeray wants his son to become the CM of the state. Aditya also has aspirations for CM chair, and Shiv Sainiks see him a serious contender for the post.
“I have always been in politics. I have always loved this profession. When I saw politics closely for the past nine years..the choice was, whether the party will accept me as an MLA… Common man means CM. My campaign will be for a new Maharashtra (sic),” said Aditya Thackeray, a few days ago.
Aditya Thackeray was first from the Thackeray family to contest elections from Worli since the formation of the party in 1966 by Balasaheb Thackeray, and therefore the aspirations for CM post were very clear.
The Thackeray family has maintained that working for the welfare of people comes first and politics comes later; which over time has helped Thackeray family keep a clean image and enjoy massive public support.
Balasaheb Thackeray in his long political career brought in many candidates and propelled them to the prestigious political posts while keeping a safe distance from the political accountability and responsibility that comes with those posts, nonetheless, keeping the covert authority with himself.
Now with changing political dynamics and new-found political aspirations, Thackeray family is set to take the electoral plunge with Aditya Thackeray taking the lead and even staking a claim for the Chief Minister’s post despite his short career in the complex Indian political scene.
“Of course, the Sena will have a chief minister. And it has been decided between BJP president Amit Shah Ji and Shiv Sena president UddhavJi.” Aditya Thackeray had said during an interview, a few days before the election.