After Haryana Elections, Next BJP Vs Congress Direct Fight Will Be Maharashtra's Vidarbha Region

Mumbai: After the results for the Haryana and Jammu & Kashmir assembly elections, all eyes will now be on the upcoming Maharashtra elections. The 2024 Lok Sabha polls, boosted the Congress party's morale as they recovered from their 10-year-long electoral doom and slumber. However, despite exit polls predicting an easy win for the Congress in Haryana accompanied with an anti-incumbency wave, the BJP is about to record a historic win. In J&K too, the Congress failed to make a mark as the National Conference emerged as the single largest party by a far distance.

The assembly results once again highlighted the Congress party's poor performance in states with a direct fight against the BJP. After Haryana, now it is Maharashtra's Vidharbha region where the Congress will see a direct contest with the BJP. Notably, in the Lok Sabha polls, Congress became the largest party in Maharshtra and won 13 out of 15 LS seats in Vidharbha.

On Tuesday morning, reacting to BJP's winning performance in Haryana, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi said that the 'Congress weakens in a direct fight with the BJP and needs to rework its election strategies.' This was seen as a 'reality check' message for the Congress ahead of the Maharashtra assembly polls. The Shiv Sena (UBT) is in alliance with the Congress and NCP (SP) in Maharashtra.

As the Vidharbha region of Maharashtra is a stronghold of Congress, which they proved in the Lok Sabha elections, questions arise if the stronghold will remain after the assembly elections too. For the Lok Sabha, out of total of 10 seats in Haryana, BJP and Congress tied with 5 seats each. Congress' neck-to-neck fight during Lok Sabha was seen benchmark for assembly polls, which they failed to achieve.

Thus, in Maharashtra, where Congress emerged as largest party during Lok Sabha is expected to perform better in the soon-to-be-announced assembly elections too. However, doubts are raised as will the Congress' disappointing electoral performance in Haryana, will have its affects in Marharashtra too? The party will rework its poll strategies, especially for the Vidharbha region's direct battle with BJP.

Notably, Maharashtra's leader of opposition, Vijay Waddetiwar and Maharashtra Congress President Nana Patole both hail from Vidharbha. While, state's Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis and minister Sudhir Mungantiwar too come from Vidharbha.

Additionally, the RSS headquarters are located in Nagpur. Thus, it is crucial for both BJP and Congress to hold power in this region.

The poll schedule for the 288 assembly seats in Maharashtra is yet to be declared. However, it is expected that the election commission will declared the dates next week. The polls are expected to be held in mid-November.