The BJP-Shiv Sena alliance in Maharashtra is set to win between 38 to 42 seats in Maharashtra, according to India Today-Axis My India Exit Poll. Maharashtra gives the second highest number of MPs to the Lok Sabha after Uttar Pradesh's 80 and BJP-Shiv Sena is looking to carry on from where it left in 2014. The Congress and the NCP are likely to win between 6 to 10 seats.
BJP had contested 25 Lok Sabha seats and the Shiv Sena 23 seats in Maharashtra; the Congress and the NCP fought on 25 and 19 seats respectively, leaving two seats each for their allies.
The 2019 Lok Sabha elections were held in Maharashtra on April 11, April 18, April 23 and April 29. After over a month, the voting process concluded today. The results will also decide the fate of four union ministers - Nitin Gadkari, Hansraj Ahir, Subhash Bhamre and Anant Gite and two Congress loyalists - Ashok Chavan and Sushilkumar Shinde.
India Today's exit poll figures in 2014 had correctly predicted that the Shiv Sena-BJP combine would bag 41 of the 48 seats in the state, with BJP winning 23 and Shiv Sena bagging 18 seats. Its earlier best performance in Parliament was 33 seats way back in 1996. In 2009, Sena and BJP with 11 and 9 respectively had won 20 seats. The Congress and NCP combine had managed to get only two and four seats respectively in 2014.
The key figures in Maharashtra election are BJP's Nitin Gadkari, Congress' Ashok Chavan, Sushilkumar Shinde, Milind Deora and Urmila Matondkar. Daughter of NCP President Sharad Pawar, Supriya Sule and Anandrao Vithoba Adsul of Shiv Sena are also among top contenders from Maharashtra.
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