New Delhi: Banking on Brand Narendra Modi is likely to pay rich dividend for
the BJP, the NDTV's poll of polls - which aggregates the results of
four polls in Maharashtra and three in Haryana - shows.
The
party, which dumped allies in Congress-ruled Maharashtra and Haryana to
contest elections on its own, is set to be the single-largest party in
both states.
In Haryana, it looks good to win 48 of the 90
seats, a comfortable majority. And in Maharashtra - which saw a
four-cornered contest after two major alliances split over seat sharing -
the BJP is set to win 125 of the 288 seats, miles ahead of the number 2
party. Ironically, that is the Shiv Sena, the BJP's ally till last
month, set to win 70 seats.
Together, all things equal, they
would have had a towering majority. Now, the BJP is likely to fall 20
seats short of a majority - the half-way mark in Maharashtra is 144.
Its
political options would include a reconciliation with the Shiv Sena or
then joining hands with the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party
or NCP, which is set to get 35 seats.
In the run-up to the
elections, both the BJP and the NCP emphatically denied any such
possibility and Prime Minister Modi sharply attacked the NCP, which
ruled Maharashtra for the last 15 years as a partner of the Congress.
Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Narvnirman Sena or MNS is not in the reckoning - it will have to settle for fewer seats than before.
The
Congress' dream run in both states is ending. It is likely to be
reduced to an insignificant 42 seats in Maharashtra. In Haryana, it
could have to settle for an equally ignominious 12 seats, with Om
Prakash Chautala's INLD (Indian National Lok Dal) coming in second to
the BJP with 25 seats.
The BJP went for broke in these elections,
building its pitch around Mr Modi and his message of development. In
neither state did it project a chief ministerial candidate and said it
was confident that what it calls the "Modi wave" from the national
elections earlier this year endures.
The PM averaged three rallies a day in a blitz of 27 public appearances in Maharashtra and 12 in Haryana.
Story First Published: October 15, 2014 20:25 IST
