Maharashtra assembly unlikely to have a Leader of Opposition

The Mahayuti landslide in Maharashtra will leave the state assembly without a leader of opposition as no party outside the ruling alliance has been able to get the mandatory minimum 29 seats.

As per data made available on the Election Commission website, the Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray, part of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi, had won 20 seats, while the other two constituents of the alliance -- the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar -- won 16 and 10 seats respectively.

The Bharatiya Janata Party won 132 seats, while Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena emerged victorious on on 57.

The third constituent of the Mahayuti, the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party, won 41 seats.

The Congress described the Maharashtra poll outcome as 'unexpected and inexplicable', and claimed that the level-playing field in the state was disturbed in a targeted manner as part of a conspiracy to defeat it.

Addressing a press conference at the All India Congress Committee headquarters in New Delhi, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh asserted that his party may have lost the polls in Maharashtra but it would continue to raise the issues that it has been raising since the parliamentary polls.

"On Maharashtra, there can be no two ways about it that in a targeted manner, the level-playing field, a phrase that the Election Commission often uses, was disturbed. The election results are unexpected, very surprising and inexplicable," Ramesh said.

"Some people are analysing the poll results of Maharashtra and saying this is a victory of development, and an NCP leader has stated that the Congress party's fake narrative has been rejected by the people of the state. This is wrong, there should not be any doubt that the agenda we had during the Lok Sabha polls -- economic inequalities, social polarisation, protection of the Constitution, a caste census and the Modani scams -- these issues are as important and we will continue to raise those," he added.

The people of Maharashtra have not rejected this, the Congress leader said.