Maharashtra Assembly Election Results Today (image:x.com/CEO_Maharashtra)

Maharashtra assembly election results will be announced today, November 23. The counting of votes will begin from 8 AM.

The 288 assembly seats in the State went to polls in a single phase on November 20. As per the Election Commission of India (ECI) update, 66.05% voter turnout was recorded. Among the seats, 234 belongs to general constituencies, 29 are reserved for Scheduled Castes (SC), and 25 are reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST).

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The State possess 9.7 crore registered voters and a total of 4,136 candidates are in the fray. As the ruling Mahayuti alliance hopes to continue in power, opposition Mahavikas Aghadi (MVA) strives for a strong comeback.

The ruling Mahayuti consists of the BJP, the Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led breakaway faction of the Shiv Sena, and the deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar’s faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). The opposition comprise the INDIA bloc’s MVA or the Maha Vikas Aghadi, has the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), or SS (UBT) led by former CM Uddhav Thackeray, the NCP (SP) faction led by Sharad Pawar and the Congress.

This time, the BJP has fielded 149 candidates, Shiv Sena (Shinde) 81, and NCP (Ajit Pawar) 59. Meanwhile, in the opposition, the Congress has fielded 101 candidates, Shiv Sena (UBT) 95, and NCP (Sharad Pawar) 86.

The prominent faces in the electoral battle include Eknath Shinde (Kopri-Pachpakhadi), Ajit Pawar (Baramati),  Devendra Fadnavis (Nagpur South West), Aaditya Thackeray (Worli),  Fahad Ahmad (Anushakti Nagar), Sada Sarvankar (Mahim), Kalidas Kolambkar (Wadala), Nana Patole (Sakoli), Vijay Wadettiwar (Brahmapuri),  Jayant Patil (Islampur), Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil (Shirdi), Chhagan Bhujbal (Yeola), and Chandrashekhar Bawankule (Kamthi).

This assembly polls mark first one in the state after Shiv Sena and NCP split in 2022, and 2023 respectively.

Also Read | The Jarange Factor And Maratha Community Votes

In the 2019 Assembly elections, the BJP secured 105 seats, the undivided Shiv Sena 56,  and the Congress 44. In 2014, the BJP won 122 seats, the Shiv Sena and the Congress garnered 63, and 42 seats, respectively.