Nagpur: Once again, the road to the seat of power in Maharashtra passed through Vidarbha.
Congress bet big here — fielding 40% of its 102 candidates — and lost big. BJP fought to its strength, fielding 33% of its 149 candidates and winning 37 in Vidarbha — seven more than its 2019 tally.
BJP’s focus on regional development, coupled with welfare schemes targeted at farmers, youth, and women, resonated deeply with Vidarbha’s voters. Initiatives such as improved irrigation infrastructure, industrial corridors, and healthcare outreach helped the party consolidate its support base even in areas where opposition parties once held sway.
Mahayuti won 47 of 62 seats in the region, leaving Congress-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) with only 13. Vidarbha, which was a Congress bastion for over six decades, proved to be its nemesis.
As the icing on the cake, BJP believes Vidarbha will give Maharashtra its chief minister for a fourth time in the form of Devendra Fadnavis after Vasantrao and Sudhakarrao Naik.
Shiv Sena, under Eknath Shinde, won four seats in Vidarbha, mirroring its performance in 2014 and 2019 when it was an undivided party — further solidifying its claim that it is the real Shiv Sena. To add to Mahayuti’s scoreline, the Ajit Pawar-led faction of NCP made a strong debut in Vidarbha, winning six seats. In an uncanny resemblance with Sena, it matched undivided NCP’s tally of six in 2019.
For Congress, Vidarbha turned out to be a turf of diminishing returns. Its dismal performance in 2024 of just 10 seats is its second-worst showing in the region since 1962. In 2014, buffeted by the first Modi wave, Congress managed to win just 10 seats. In 2019, it won 15 seats, but in 2024, it’s been left tottering on shaky ground.
Nana Patole’s soul-scraping victory in Sakoli, by just 208 votes, shows how tough it was for Congress. Its ally, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiva Sena, won four seats this time, but failed to make any significant impact. To add to MVA’s woes, Sharad Pawar’s NCP faction drew a blank.