Maharashtra Assembly polls: Here's a recap of the 2019 elections

The last time Maharashtra saw an assembly election was in October 2019. And the political landscape has certainly changed since then, with the splitting off of the Nationalist Congress Party, courtesy Ajit Pawar's defection in 2023.

As we await the announcement of the election schedule by the Election Commission, it might be instructive to look back at the 2019 polls to compare and contrast.

In the 2019 elections, the voting percentage across the state was 61.4 per cent voting across 288 seats.

The pre-poll NDA alliance of the BJP and the Shiv Sena made significant strides. Besides the BJP and the Shiv Sena, a few other parties had contested under the NDA banner as well. However, as differences emerged between the Shiv Sena and the BJP regarding the chief minister incumbent, the alliance broke up and an NDA government could not be formed.

Since no single party got an absolute majority and the government could not be formed within the stipulated time, President's Rule was imposed in the state.

Meanwhile, early on the morning of 23 November 2019, NCP leader Ajit Pawar joined hands with the BJP. The BJP's Devendra Fadnavis was sworn in as chief minister and Ajit Pawar was sworn in as the deputy chief minister.

However, both leaders resigned on 26 November 2019, even before the new 'Mahayuti' alliance could prove its majority in the assembly.

In response, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, the Sharad Pawar faction of the NCP and the Indian National Congress formed their own alliance — the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) — and a staked claim to forming the government. The MVA chose Uddhav Thackeray as chief minister.

This MVA government lasted for about three years — until another split, this time in the Shiv Sena, forced Thackeray's resignation. This time, it was Eknath Shinde who rebelled, along with other party MLAs, over Thackeray's choice to join the MVA.

Ultimately, Eknath Shinde formed an alliance of rebel MLAs with the BJP and was sworn in as the chief minister in a new Mahayuti government. Devendra Fadnavis came back, but as deputy chief minister this government. NCP rebel Pawar too joined hands with the newly formed Shinde government, and also got the post of deputy chief minister again — this time sharing equal power (at least on paper) with Fadnavis.

In the 2019 elections, the BJP had contested from 164 seats, out of which it won 105, whereas the Shiv Sena contested from 126 seats and won 56.

Meanwhile, under the UPA flag, the (then-undivided) NCP contested a total of 121 seats and won 54, while the INC contested 147 seats and won 44.

Apart from these, the BSP had won three seats and the AIMIM and Samajwadi Party had won two seats each.

The Congress-led UPA was also supported by Raju Shetty's Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana, the Kisan-Labour Party, the Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Vikas Aghadi and the Swabhiman Sanghatna.