 "Maharashtra election results: 'Mahayuti will take call', says Eknath Shinde on next CM face")
Mahayuti is set to make history by winning a landslide victory in Maharashtra. Party workers and leaders across the state have already started celebrating the alliance’s big win as Mahayuti leads in 220 seats. The BJP, which has the largest share of seats, is ahead in 132 seats. The party’s tally alone is greater than that of Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) which is leading in 60 out of the 288 assembly seats.
While the path to victory has brought relief to the Mahayuti alliance, the next big challenge that the alliance faces is choosing the chief minister’s pick. There has been a lot of buzz around who will hold the post for the next five years in Maharashtra with Shinde’s supporters hoping he to continue while BJP wants to put its own leader.
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Out of the 220 seats that Mahayuti is leading in, BJP has contributed in 133 seats, Shiv Sena (Shinde) is ahead in 50 seats and NCP (Ajit) in 37 seats.
‘No decision yet’
An overjoyed Eknath Shinde, while talking to reporters after trends showed Mahayuti way ahead of the Opposition alliances, addressed the elephant in the room. He said that the alliance has not taken any call on the next CM face.
“I thank Maharashtra people. This is a landslide victory. I had said before that Mahayuti will get a thumping victory. I thank all sections of the society. I also thank all the workers of the Mahayuti parties," he said.
He added, “No decision on Chief Minister candidate has been taken yet,” adding that Mahayuti will decide the next steps.
Shinde is comfortably cruising from his Kopri-Pachpakhadi seat.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsFadnavis or Shinde?
Reportedly, the frontrunners in the CM race are Devendra Fadnavis and Eknath Shinde.
Senior BJP leader Chandrakant Patil said, “Who the CM would be would be decided by our central parliamentary board. However, if we are asked, then we would unanimously say that it should be Devendra Fadnavis as the Chief Minister.”
Meanwhile, Fadnavis has made the biggest comeback of his career just months after he offered to resign from the post of deputy chief minister after the Lok Sabha debacle. The long-time BJP leader is leading from the Nagpur South West seat.
BJP’s National General Secretary Vinod Tawde said, “As far as the CM is concerned, Eknath Shinde, Devendra Fadnavis, Ajit Pawar and BJP’s central leadership will make a decision together and tell you about it. Today, Mahayuti is celebrating its victory and expressing gratitude to the people of the state.”
However, Washim City seems to have declared Fadnavis as the next chief minister of Maharashtra.
#WATCH | Posters depicting BJP's Devendra Fadnavis as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra seen in Washim city.
— ANI (@ANI) November 23, 2024
As per official EC trends, Fadnavis is leading on Nagpur South West seat by a margin of 24,593 votes over Congress' Prafulla Vinodrao Gudadhe. Mahayuti is all set to form… pic.twitter.com/MleKjJFINg
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