Politics of Maharashtra
The state has national and regional parties serving different demographics, such as those based on religion, caste, and urban and rural residents.
In recent decades,however, splits within the Congress party, and the rise of Shiv Sena and the BJP has made politics of the state more competitive.
Like in other states of India, Maharashtra also has political families dominating their respective areas, and not averse to switching parties if that maintains their power.
[5] However, the constitutional and formal head of the state is the governor, who is appointed for a five-year term by the president of India on the advice of the union government.
The Congress party enjoyed nearly unchallenged dominance of the state political landscape until 1995, when the coalition of Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured an overwhelming majority in the state, beginning a period of coalition governments.
[24] In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP and Shiv Sena fought under the NDA banner, whereas the Congress and NCP were part of the UPA.
In June 2022, this government collapsed when the majority of the Shiv Sena legislative party, under Eknath Shinde, broke away to form a new coalition with the BJP.
They dominated the cooperative institutions, and, with the resultant economic power, controlled politics from the village level to the State Legislative Assembly and the Lok Sabha.
Shiv Sena was formed in the 1960s by Balashaheb Thackerey, a cartoonist and journalist, to advocate and agitate for the interests of Marathi people in Mumbai.
However, since the 1990s there has been a shift in leadership, with many middle-level leaders creating personal fiefdoms for themselves and their families using strong-arm tactics.
Raj Thackeray, like his uncle, has also tried to win support from the Marathi community by embracing anti-immigrant sentiment in Maharashtra, for instance against Biharis.
[44][45] Sharad Pawar, the founder of the NCP, has many members of his family—including his daughter Supriya Sule and nephew Ajit Pawar—holding prominent positions in the party.
The BJP put together an alliance of forward castes, the Other Backward Class (OBC), and, to some extent, Dalit to fight the Maratha-led Congress and NCP.
The results were significant in that the BJP received the highest number of seats, despite being historically smaller than Shiv Sena in the state.
Despite their differences, the BJP and Shiv Sena once again contested the elections together under the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) banner.
[53] The BJP–Shiv Sena and NCP–Congress alliances remained intact for the Vidhan Sabha (Legislative Assembly) elections in October 2019.
The BJP and Shiv Sena gained the majority of seats in the Assembly but could not form a government due to squabbles between the two parties.
On 23 November 2019, BJP formed a government with support from NCP, with Ajit Pawar as Deputy Chief Minister.
This government collapsed three days later, with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar resigning their respective positions.
Thackeray's governing coalition included Shiv Sena, NCP, INC, and several independent members of the Legislative Assembly.
[56][57] Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari called for a trust vote, an action that would later on be described as a "sad spectacle" by Supreme Court of India[58] and draw criticism from political observers.
[59] Uddhav Thackeray resigned his post as chief minister and MLC membership ahead of a no-confidence motion on 29 June 2022.
[61] Thackeray filed a lawsuit in Supreme Court of India claiming that Shinde and his group's actions meant that they were disqualified under anti-defection law.
[63][62][64][65] In its verdict, the Supreme Court ordered the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker to decide the matter of disqualification of the 16 MLAs.
[75] Although the INDIA grouping which includes the Mahavikas aghadi won a resounding victory in the 2024 Loksabha elections, the Vidhan sabha elections in November 2024 had the opposite result with the Mahayuti coalition of BJP, Shivsena (Shinde), and NCP( Ajit Pawar) winning 80% of the Vidhan sabha seats.
[76][77] In December 2024, Devendra Phadnavis became the chief minister of the mahayuti government with Eknath Shinde, and Ajit Pawar being appointed as deputy chief ministers.Election analysts have credited the Ladki Bahin Yojana that made cash transfers to women before the election as attracting a larger number of female voters to opt for the Mahayuti.Other factors cited aby analysts including greater participation by the RSS in ground level campaigning, continued popularity of Narendra Modi, and dog-whistle call for Hindu unity using slogans such as Batenge to katenge (divided we fall).
