Four days have passed since the Mahayuti scored a mammoth win in the Maharashtra Assembly polls, but the BJP-led alliance is yet to announce its Chief Minister choice. While the BJP wants Devendra Fadnavis for the top job, its ally Shiv Sena is rooting for its leader Eknath Shinde. The BJP is now holding backroom talks with its ally to iron out differences and prevent embarrassment once it names its choice for the top job.

While the Opposition has been questioning the delay in the Mahayuti naming its Chief Minister pick, BJP sources say they were in no rush to form the government. “We are not looking at any timeline. The government formation in Uttar Pradesh took two weeks,” a source said.

Apart from the Chief Minister post, the leaders of BJP, Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar’s NCP also need to reach an agreement on ministerial berths. Maharashtra can have a total of 43 ministers, including the Chief Minister. The BJP, which won 132 out of the Mahayuti’s score of 230, is likely to claim half of the ministerial berths, leaving the rest for allies.

When the Uddhav Thackeray government toppled in 2022 due to a mutiny led by Mr Shinde, the BJP had backed him for Chief Minister despite holding more numerical heft in the Assembly. Mr Fadnavis, albeit grudgingly, had accepted the Deputy Chief Minister role. But this time, after its stellar show in the polls, BJP is unlikely to let the post go to its ally. According to BJP leaders, party workers want Mr Fadnavis in the top role. The BJP’s ideological parent RSS is also backing the Nagpur South West MLA, it is learnt.  

Eknath Shinde “Unhappy”

Ramdas Athawale, Union Minister and leader of BJP ally Republican Party of India (Athawale), has backed Mr Fadnavis for the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, saying that the “people want him.” Admitting that the Chief Minister question has led to a “deadlock” within the Mahayuti, he said, “When Eknath Shinde came to know that the BJP high command has finalised Devendra Fadnavis as the CM, he was unhappy. And I can understand that. But, BJP has got 132 seats… Devendra Fadnavis should be made the Chief Minister,” he said.

Shiv Sena leaders have said the election was won under Mr Shinde’s leadership and he must continue as the Chief Minister. Earlier, Sena spokesperson Naresh Mhaske cited the ‘Bihar model’. “We feel Shinde should be the chief minister, just like in Bihar where BJP did not look at the numbers but still made JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar the CM.” Sena leader and MLA Sanjay Shirsat said Mr Shinde’s face played a huge role in Mahayuti’s victory. “We had made sacrifices. We left power. Serious allegations were made, but we rose above them,” he said. 

Opposition Fires Barbs

Amid the delay in the Mahayuti announcing its Chief Minister pick, the Shiv Sena (UBT) has started taking swipes at Eknath Shinde, who led the rebellion that split the Sena and toppled the Uddhav Thackeray government in 2022.

Shortly after the poll results, Mr Thackeray had said Mr Shinde would now have to work under Mr Fadnavis. Amid reports that the BJP has chosen Mr Fadnavis for the top job, Sena (UBT) has stepped up its attack. Mr Thackeray’s aide and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut has said, “Eknath Shinde won’t become Chief Minister. His purpose has been served.” Mr Raut also claimed that this is not a mandate of the people, but of EVMs.

Sena (UBT) MP Priyanka Chaturvedi told news agency ANI, “If Devendra Fadnavis’ name has been finalised, announce it quickly; what is stopping you? Why are you depriving the people of Maharashtra of the promises made to them, why are you keeping them away and why are you ignoring the steering crisis of Maharashtra?”

Sena Says Mahayuti United

The BJP’s strong score in this election has put it in an advantageous position and it now needs only one of its two allies — Sena and NCP — to support it to form the government. And the NCP, it is learnt, has already thrown its weight behind Mr Fadnavis. So, Mr Shinde has little leverage to bargain hard for the Chief Minister post. The party is likely to demand a good deal in ministerial posts to make up for the top post.

Speaking to NDTV, Sena MP Naresh Mhaske said a decision on the Chief Minister post will be taken very soon. However, he clarified that the Mahayuti is united. “There is no suspense. Mahayuti’s leader will become the Chief Minister. The media is in a hurry. Government formation takes time,” he said.

“We are not Uddhav Thackeray that we will run away if Chief Ministership is not given,” he said, referring to the Sena-BJP split after the 2019 state polls when Mr Thackeray ended the alliance due to differences over the Chief Minister post.

The Maha Vikas Aghadi – thumped last week in the Maharashtra election – is planning a national protest against the credibility of EVMs, or electronic voting machines, which it blames for its defeat.

The MVA – fronted by the Congress and the Shiv Sena and NCP factions led by Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar – also plans to move the court to return to ballot papers.

Mr Thackeray and Mr Pawar met defeated MVA candidates Wednesday to form legal teams, at the state and national levels, to address the longstanding concern for opposition parties.

The MVA has loudly protested the result of the Maharashtra election that was won by the Mahayuti alliance of the BJP and the Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar factions of the Sena and NCP.

The Mahayuti cruised to victory, winning 235 of 288 Assembly seats. The BJP won 132 – its best-ever score in a Maharashtra election – on its own and is expected to lead the next government.

The MVA won just 49 seats; the Thackeray Sena got 20, the Congress 16, and Sharad Pawar’s NCP group just 10 to record the veteran leader’s worst ever electoral performance.

Mr Pawar’s party had contested 86 seats, and he has urged his losing candidates to request an analysis of the VVPAT, or Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail, to confirm the voting numbers. Senior NCP leaders, including grandnephew Rohit Pawar, have alleged fraud while vote-counting.

Like the NCP, the Congress is also furious over its low strike rate; the party contested 101 seats and won just 16. The Thackeray Sena, meanwhile, fielded 95 candidates but won just 20 seats.

The opposition bloc – which has protested against EVMs earlier too, including after a surprise defeat in the Haryana Assembly election last month – has been indignant since; Congress boss Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday demanded a return to ballot papers, like the United States.

Nana Patole, the ex-chief of the Congress’ state unit, Nana Patole, who quit after the results were announced, similarly denounced EVMs, insisting it is not being taken seriously.

These complaints come after the Supreme Court – which gave EVMs a thumbs-up in April, when the Lok Sabha election was being held – dismissed a petitioner’s plea to return to ballot papers.

The court pointed out faulty EVMs are not flagged when the opposition wins an election.

READ | “EVMs Not Tampered When You Win?” Court’s “No” To Paper Ballots

That reasoning has also been flagged by the BJP. Senior Maharashtra BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, who is widely expected to be named the next Chief Minister, responded sharply to claims about rigged EVMs by pointing out the Congress had won the Jharkhand election.

“JMM (and Congress) won in Jharkhand….The election there was ‘fair’… but if we get a huge victory in Maharashtra, then the Election Commission is ‘biased’ and EVMs were ‘hacked’?”

READ | “Jharkhand Election Fair But If We…”: D Fadnavis On EVM Moans

The Congress has also been criticised, obliquely, by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Speaking before the Winter Session of Parliament. He slammed his rivals for being “rejected by the people 80-90 times” and, in a pre-emptive strike, accused them of already disrupting the House.

The row over EVMs rears its head after every major election, with the opposition accusing the BJP of engineering victories by hacking the machines. The BJP has steadily refuted the claims.

READ | In VVPAT Case, Court’s 2 Big Directions On EVMs, Symbol Units

The Election Commission, meanwhile, has hit back at the Congress

After the Haryana election results were questioned the EC criticised the party for making “baseless allegations… when faced with inconvenient electoral outcomes”, and warned it, and others, against “unfounded and sensational complaints” during an election and as votes are cast and counted.

After the Haryana election a furious Congress refused to accept the verdict – a record third consecutive term for the BJP, which won despite conceding a large early lead. The Congress insisted the EVMs had been hacked and questioned alleged delays in publishing voting data.

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