NEW DELHI, 18 September 2004 — There will be a neck-and- neck fight between BJP-Shiv Sena combine and Congress-NCP alliance in the coming assembly elections in Maharashtra, an opinion poll said. The election is scheduled to be held on Oct. 13.
The opinion poll was conducted by the NDTV-Indian Express. It shows the Congress-NCP and the BJP-Shiv Sena combines in a close fight.
In Marathwada region, comprising the central districts of the state, and Vidarbha, a backward region demanding separate statehood, a clear swing in favor of the ruling alliance has been predicted.
But in north Maharashtra, the BJP-Shiv Sena is likely get an edge.
The poll was carried out among 29,763 voters in 150 constituencies in the three regions. It showed the Congress-NCP getting 75 seats and the opposition alliance bagging 73 seats.
The state has 288 constituencies.
In Marathwada, the Congress-NCP alliance is shown as getting 26 of 48 assembly seats, with the BJP-Sena alliance securing 22.
In Vidharbha, Congress-NCP is predicted to forge ahead, comfortably bagging 38 of 66 seats while Sena-BJP is projected to get 27.
But the opposition combine is expected to do well in north Maharashtra, getting 24 of the 36 assembly seats there, according to the opinion poll.
However, the opinion polls have come even before the final candidates for the elections have been announced. The Congress-NCP has not released any list of candidates, while the BJP Thursday announced 83 names and Shiv Sena 84. The BJP is expected to field candidates in 114 constituencies and the Shiv Sena will contest 171 constituencies.
For the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance, a victory in Maharashtra is essential to boost the morale of its cadres after its shock defeat in the April-May general election.
The combine had stormed into the then Congress party bastion of Maharashtra in the mid-90s but lost its hold again in the last elections in 1999.
The upcoming assembly elections are expected to be dominated by a controversy over Hindu revivalist ideologue Vinayak “Veer” Savarkar that erupted after the removal of a plaque with his name from a memorial at Port Blair. The demand for a separate state comprising the Vidarbha region and a campaign against the tomb of Afzal Khan, a general of the Moguls, are also expected to figure during campaigning.
An estimated 65.9 million people are eligible to cast their votes in the Oct. 13 polls.
The opinion poll is expected to give a boost to the morale of the ruling alliance, which was apprehensive of an anti-incumbency wave and the return of Hindu forces in the state. The Cong-NCP alliance says that though the poll does show a neck and neck race, the Congress could see a comeback.
Senior BJP leader Pramod Mahajan also agrees that the fight for seats will be a close one.
“I think we have a slight edge over them. I think if we touch 145, we can get a majority. But the next three weeks are very crucial for us and we should work on the advantage we have. Otherwise, there is a chance that we may lose the polls,” said Mahajan.
While the situation might change in the next few days, the first opinion poll on the Maharashtra elections shows that both sides will have to sweat it out to win their share of seats.
