Current affairs explainers · Note 014
Maharashtra 2024: a landslide that reversed the Lok Sabha pattern
Study context: GS II — Salient features of the Representation of People's Act; appointment to various Constitutional posts, powers, functions and responsibilities of various Constitutional Bodies.
Background explainer from the November 2026 study collection. Events discussed may predate the collection; this is not a monthly news update.
Maharashtra voted in a single phase on 20 November 2024 for all 288 seats in its Legislative Assembly, and counting took place on 23 November 2024. The election was a direct contest between two alliances, each of which had split from the other in recent years. The ruling Mahayuti alliance comprised the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Shiv Sena faction led by Eknath Shinde, and the Nationalist Congress Party faction led by Ajit Pawar. The opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi comprised the Congress, the Shiv Sena faction led by Uddhav Thackeray, and the Nationalist Congress Party faction led by Sharad Pawar.
The Mahayuti won a landslide. The BJP emerged as the single largest party with 132 seats, its best-ever result in the state, ahead of 122 in 2014 and 105 in 2019. Its allies won 57 seats for the Shinde Shiv Sena and 41 for the Ajit Pawar Nationalist Congress Party. The Maha Vikas Aghadi, by contrast, won only 46 seats among its three main parties: 20 for the Thackeray Shiv Sena, 16 for the Congress, and 10 for the Sharad Pawar Nationalist Congress Party.
The result was striking because it reversed the pattern of the 2024 Lok Sabha election in the same state, held only months earlier, in which the Maha Vikas Aghadi had won 30 of Maharashtra's 48 parliamentary seats. The Assembly result therefore showed that voters do not simply repeat a national verdict in a state election, and that state-level issues, candidate selection, alliance management, and campaign organisation can produce a very different outcome in a short period.
Devendra Fadnavis became Chief Minister, leading a Mahayuti government with a comfortable majority. The scale of the victory also changed the internal balance of the ruling alliance, giving the BJP a dominant position within it, while the opposition faced the longer task of rebuilding after a defeat that left it with less than a sixth of the Assembly.
For civil studies readers, Maharashtra 2024 is a warning against reading too much into a single election. A party or alliance that looks dominant in one election can look vulnerable in the next, and a state election fought on state issues can diverge sharply from a national election fought on national issues, even when the same voters cast both ballots within months.
Key takeaways
- The BJP won 132 of 288 seats in Maharashtra in 2024, its best-ever state result, with allies winning 57 and 41 seats.
- The Maha Vikas Aghadi's three main parties won 20, 16, and 10 seats respectively, a sharp reversal from the 2024 Lok Sabha result in the state.
- Devendra Fadnavis became Chief Minister of a Mahayuti government with a comfortable majority.
Why it matters for civil studies
State and national elections can diverge sharply, even within months, when voters judge different issues and different candidates.
Think it through
Why do voters sometimes choose one alliance nationally and the opposite alliance in their state?
From the Public Notes companion study collection. Editorial context and corrections.