New Delhi, Mumbai, Ranchi: The stage is set for polling in 288 Assembly seats in Maharashtra and for 38 in the second and last phase of Jharkhand elections on Wednesday.
In Maharashtra, the ruling BJP-led Mahayuti alliance vying to retain power is pitched against the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA). In Jharkhand, the BJP-led coalition left no stone unturned to wrest power from the incumbent JMM-led alliance.
The election campaign witnessed top leaders like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, Congress President Mallikarjuna Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and many Union ministers crisscrossing in both poll-bound states.
The BJP’s use of slogans like “Batenge toh katenge” and “Ek hai toh safe hai” prompted the Opposition parties to accuse the saffron party of polarising voters along religious lines. The Congress to counter the BJP’s “Batenge to Katenge” used “Daroge to Maroge”.
In Jharkhand, the electoral battle is for 38 of the total 81 Assembly seats. This phase will decide the electoral fate of Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, his wife Kalpana Soren (both JMM), and Leader of Opposition Amar Kumar Bauri (BJP) besides more than 500 other candidates.
The NDA alliance has put all efforts to break the JMM citadel in the state including 18 seats of Santhal Pargana. 18 of the 38 constituencies are in the Santhal Pargana region comprising six districts - Godda, Deoghar, Dumka, Jamtara, Sahibganj and Pakur.
While the JMM-led coalition is seeking to retain power riding on its welfare schemes, while the saffron party has raised the election pitch flagging the issues of Hindutva, infiltration from Bangladesh and corruption of the current dispensation, the NDA has been harping on large-scale infiltration took place in Santhal Pargana during the past five years of the JMM-led regime.