The Congress has conceded defeat of the Maha Vikas Aghadi in the Maharashtra Assembly Elections. Halfway through the vote counting in Maharashtra, Congress spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said: "There should be a detailed discussion on EVMs, but today is not that day. The results have not come in our favour. We have learnt a lesson. Mahayuti got more time to prepare... The way the date of elections was extended."
"We had a good campaign in Maharashtra. The results in Maharashtra have gone against our expectations. We are happy that we are going to form the government again in Jharkhand," Shrinate added.
At 11 AM on Saturday, the BJP-led Mahayuti was leading on 220, while the MVA was leading on 52. Independents and smaller parties were leading on 13 seats.
Although Supriya Shrinate conceded defeat, the Congress's MVA ally Shiv Sena (UBT) claimed foul play in the elections. Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut said: "Kuch to gadbad hai (something is wrong)... This cannot be the decision of the people of Maharashtra. We know what the people of Maharashtra want."
The Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi (VBA), too, said this result was unexpected as public was against the Mahayuti. VBA leader Siddharth Mokale said: "Those who voted, they themselves would not have expected such results. Only BJP, Adani, Ambani would have expected such results. There were at least 30-35 seats on which we were in the race. Our workers had full confidence that we were winning some seats. The kind of big lead being shown for BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP... the public opinion about them was not that great... this was the case till the voting day. I am not aware if they did something after voting," he added.
The BJP's high strike rate in the Mahayuti is likely to earn Devendra Fadnavis the Chief Minister's chair again, sources said.