Maharashtra Poll Results: How Mahayuti's 'Friendly Fights' Compared To MVA's 'Friendly Fire'
Friendly fights between MVA partners and Mahayuti allies impacted the Maharashtra polls to a large extent. MVA lost 17 out of 21 friendly contests, while Mahayuti lost only two out of seven.
One of the main contributors to the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) thrashing in Maharashtra was the "friendly fights" factor. Meanwhile, the Mahayuti coalition successfully navigated potential losses within its ranks.
There were friendly contests in 29 out of the 288 assembly seats, with MVA partners competing against one another in 21 of these. The MVA suffered in 17 constituencies, whereas the Mahayuti lost only two seats.
Mahayuti Friendly Fights
The ruling Mahayuti coalition, which includes the BJP, Eknath Shinde's faction of the Shiv Sena, and Ajit Pawar's NCP, competed against one another in seven constituencies:
| Constituency | Friendly Contest | Winner |
| Mankhurd Shivajinagar | Nawab Malik (NCP) vs Suresh Patil (Shiv Sena) | Abu Azmi (SP) |
| Ashti | Dhas S Ramchandra (BJP) vs Ajabe B Bhausaheb (NCP) | DS Ramchandra (BJP) |
| Sindhkhed Raja | Kayande Devanand (NCP) vs KDS Narsinghrao (SS) | K Devanand (NCP) |
| Katol | CB Thakur (BJP) vs AS Deshmukh | CB Thakur (BJP) |
| Morshi | Chandu Yawalkar (BJP) vs Devendra Dhuyar (NCP) | Chandu Yawalkar (BJP) |
| Shrirampur | BM Kamble (SS) vs KL Nataha (NCP) | Ogale Bhujangrao (Congress) |
| Purandar | Vijaybapu Shivtare (SS) vs Sambaji Zende (NCP) | Vijaybapu Shivtare (SS) |
There would have been an eighth friendly fight in Dindori between NCP's Narhari Zirwal and Shiv Sena's Dhanraj Mahale, had the Sena not withdrawn its candidate at the last moment.
MVA Friendly Fights
Friendly fights seemed to hurt the MVA candidates more as votes seemed to have been
| Constituency | Friendly fight | Winner |
| Bhiwandi West | AR Muqeemuddin (SP) vs DM Choraghe (Congress) | CM Prabhakar (BJP) |
| Nanded North | AS Gafoor (Congress) vs Sangitha Patil (SS-UBT) | BD Kalyankar (BJP) |
| Tuljapur | Kuldeep Patil (Congress) vs RD Sahebrao (SP) | RP Patil (BJP) |
| Aurangabad East | LH Shewale (Congress) vs Abdul Syed (SP) | Atul Save (BJP) |
| Malegaon Central | Nihal Ahmed (SP) vs Ejaz Baig (Congress) | Mufti Md Khalique (AIMIM) |
| Paranda | RM Mote (NCP-SP) vs RV Bhosale (SP) | Tanaji Sawant (Shiv Sena) |
| Dhule City | Anil Gote (SS-UBT) vs Jahagirdar Irshad (SP) | AA Omprakash |
| Loha | Eknath Pawar (NCP-SP) vs AS Shinde (PWPI) | Pratprao Chikhalikar (NCP) |
| Uran | PJM Mhatre (PWPI) vs MG Bhoir (SS-UBT) | Mahesh Baldi (BJP) |
| Solapur City Central | CP Narote (Congress) vs AN Narayan (CPI-M) | Devendra Kotha (BJP) |
| Wani | DS Nilkanthrao (SS-UBT) vs AG Hepat (CPI) | DS Nilkanthrao (SS-UBT) |
| Pen | Prasad Bhoir (SS-UBT) vs Atul Mhatre (PWPI) | Ravisheth Patil (BJP) |
| Ausa | DB Mane (SS-UBT) vs BS Survase (PWPI) | AD Pawar (BJP) |
| Panvel | BD Patil (PWPI) vs Leena Garad (SS-UBT) | PR Thakur (BJP) |
| Katol | DS Anilbabu (NCP-SP) vs Rahul Deshmukh (PWPI) | Charansingh Thakur (BJP) |
In various districts, MVA partners also ran alongside candidates from the Peasants and Workers Party of India (PWP), Samajwadi Party, and Left parties. The Samajwadi Party entered the race with eight candidates and collaborated with Congress in six constituencies— Bhiwandi West (Thane), Tuljapur (Dharashiv), Aurangabad East (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar), and Malegaon Central (Nashik)—while aligning with NCP in Paranda (Dharashiv) and Shiv Sena (UBT) in Dhule City. Ultimately, four of these seats were won by the BJP.
The PWP contested 14 seats but only succeeded in Sangole. It faced off against Shiv Sena (UBT) in several areas including Loha and Uran. In Uran, for instance, PWP's Pritam Mhatre received 88,526 votes while Shiv Sena's Manohar Bhoir garnered 69,603 votes; however, it was BJP's Mahesh Baldi who triumphed with over 95,000 votes.
Although votes were indeed split between the MVA candidates in all the constituencies, some of the win margins were too large to have made a difference in the results anyway. But a fractured MVA did send out a message that not everything was well within the alliance.
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