ABP News-C voter survey: BJP-Sena alliance firm favourites, may win 205 seats in Maharashtra

Mumbai, Oct 01: The ABP News-C voter opinion poll has predicted a clear win for the BJP-Shiv Sena led alliance in the upcoming Maharashra Assembly elections 2019 for which the voting would be held on October 21. The Maharashtra Assembly has 288 seats and the majority mark needed to form the government is 145.

The ABP News-C voter opinion poll predicts that the NDA may win over 200 seats in the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly. In the Maharashtra Assembly elections 2014, the two saffron parties, which have had alliance for close to two decades at state and Centre, could not finalise the seat sharing and fought elections separately. The BJP contested on 260 seats and the Sena contested on 282 seats. No party could reach the 145-seats mark needed to for government.

ABP News-C voter opinion poll predicts that the ruling alliance may win as many as 205 seats which is astounding 60 seats more than what is required to form the government.

In 2014, both Sena and BJP could not reach the 145 seats mark by fighting polls seperately and it was felt that the two parties may even have cur into each others' vote share. Even this time, there were some disagreements over the seat sharing and the Chief ministerial candidate, but both parties sealed the seat sharing deal on September 30.

The ABP News-C voter opinion poll's prediction on vote share states that the Sena-BJP led alliance may get 46% of votes while the Congress-NCP alliance is likely to get 30% vote share. In 2014, the BJP's vote share was 28.1 per cent while the Shiv Sena's was 19.5 per cent. The Congress had bagged 42 seats and 18.1 per cent votes, while the NCP with 17.4 per cent votes had won 41 seats.

In the Lok Sabha elections held in April-May this year, the BJP-Shiv Sena combine won 41 of the 49 Lok Sabha seats, so in that sense both saffron parties are confident. A few months ago, it had emerged that the Sena had suggested a rotational agreement for the CM's post which means that the top post would be held for 2.5 years by one ally and the remaining 2.5 years by another party in the alliance. The BJP had then strongly pushed for Fadnavis and indicated that they may not compromise on that front.

A spectacular performance in the Lok Sabha elections and a perception that Fadnavis' reogn was good, the BJP can be more assertive with its demands.