Fadnavis confident of Mahayuti’s majority after increase in voter turnout

“We are certain the Mahayuti – comprising the BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP factions led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde – will secure a majority and form the government. Whenever there is an increase in polling, it has always been in favour of the BJP and its alliance partners,” Fadnavis said.

Maharashtra recorded a voter turnout of 65.02 per cent in elections for its 288 constituencies on November 20. It is the second highest turnout after the 71.7 per cent recorded in the 1995 Vidhan Sabha elections.

While there are several reasons for the increase in voter turnout, it clearly indicates people’s faith in the Mahayuti government, Fadnavis said. He attributed the increased polling percentage to the state government’s Ladki Bahin Yojana initiative.

“According to the feedback received by us, the women’s turnout has increased. At several polling booths, there was a surge in female voter participation,” he said.

Though the exit polls have given Mahayuti a clear edge in the elections, Fadnavis said the decision about the chief minister’s post has not been discussed so far. “No decision has been taken yet regarding the post of Chief Minister. All three (Mahayuti alliance partners) of us will sit together after the declaration of results. Although there are sentiments of party office bearers and activists, I will not talk about it now. The decision will be taken after the announcement of the result,” the BJP leader added.

The exit polls announced just after the voting ended predicted that the ruling Mahayuti is likely to come back to power in Maharashtra. As many as five exit polls — Matrize, Peoples Pulse, Chanakya Strategies, Times Now-JVC and Poll Diary — gave a clear edge to the BJP-led alliance while three — Dainik Bhaskar, P-Marq and Lokshahi Marathi-Rudra — have predicted a hung house in Maharashtra. Only one exit poll done by Electoral Edge has predicted victory for the opposition MVA in Maharashtra.

However, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut termed the exit poll as a ‘fraud’ and said that the Maha Vikas Aghadi will win more than 160 seats.

“Exit Polls in this country are a fraud. We saw the ‘400 paar’ data of exit polls during Lok Sabha elections, we saw Congress crossing 60 in Haryana Elections. Now, they are giving data for Maharashtra. Don’t trust exit polls. We are winning 160 seats and Maha Vikas Aghadi is forming the Government,” he said.

“We and our allies, including smaller parties like the PWP, Samajwadi Party, the Left parties are crossing the majority mark. We are winning 160-165 seats. There will be a stable government in the state. I can say it very confidently,” said Raut.

Senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala also said that exit polls will be proven wrong and they are never ‘exact polls.’