No Maha Janadesh This Time, says Sena's mouthpiece Saamna | Full Coverage

“People of Maharashtra have spoken. You did not get a huge mandate. Do not go to excess. If you try to do so, you will be finished,” the  Shiv Sena said in the editorial. It also said : “ You did not get majority on your own”

In Maharashtra, where 288 seats are at stake, the BJP won 104 seats and was leading in 1 more as of midnight. Its ally Shiv Sena won 56 seats, taking their combined lead tally to 161 seats.

From the Opposition camp, the Congress won 43 seats and was leading in one more while its alliance partner Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) ended up with 54 seats.

The Sena organ said the mandate has rejected the BJP's thinking that elections can be swept by engineering defections and splitting opposition parties.