Election wars reached the front pages of Maharashtra’s significant newspapers as the last day of poll campaigning for the high-stake assembly elections came to an end.

The BJP played on the ‘fear factor’ raking up the ghastly terror attacks of the past. In contrast, the opposition Congress-led Mahavikas Aghadi highlighted corruption and ‘anti-Maharashtra’ governance under the BJP rule.

The BJP ad featured a collage of news clippings and headlines about major bomb attacks that rocked the cities of Mumbai and Pune in 2006 and 2008 during Congress rule, as well as the Palghar Sadhu lynching and Khichdi scam that took place during the COVID lockdown restrictions under Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. At the bottom of the page was its message to the voters: MVA—say no to Congress.

The BJP has heavily used the Hindutva card during the campaigning, targeting the MVA as anti-Hindu. Its star-studded campaign featured Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, along with BJP senior ministers and leaders like UP CM Yogi Adityanath, Anurag Thakur, MP Kangana Ranaut, Tejasvi Surya, and others.

The MVA coalition, including Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP (Sharad Pawar), and Congress, released a joint advertisement, taking direct potshots against Modi, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy Chief Ministers Devendra Fadnavis, Ajit Pawar, and industrialist Gautam Adani—portrayed as caricatures stealing a pie of Maharashtra’s resources.

Central to the ad’s theme were the significant incidents of corruption, the collapse of Chhatrapati Shivaji’s statue, awarding the Dharavi redevelopment contract to the Adani group, rising unemployment, crime and women’s security. Enough of anti-Maharashtra governance; time to banish the corrupt alliance, reads the caption.

Uddhav Thackeray released a separate video, appealing to the voters for ‘justice’ after he was ousted from the CM post in 2022. Flanked with a photo of his father and founder of Shiv Sena, Bal Thackeray, and the party’s new symbol—mashaal (flaming torch), Thackeray reminded voters of how the MVA government was pulled down and replaced by the BJP and Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) government. “They broke our party, stole our party name and symbol… but they could not steal the love, support and trust of people,” he said in an emotional appeal.

BJP’s Fadnavis alerted voters to ‘wake up’ and decide the future of Maharashtra. He shared a video clip featuring his speech at a public rally: “This election is an election of future generations. Wake up now; this is the last chance. Vote for the lotus symbol.”

In a press conference, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said he was confident he would win the elections with a majority. He held over 75 public rallies and made 25 video appearances across the state to inform people about the government’s major decisions, schemes and projects launched and completed during his tenure. “We are content with the work done by the Mahayuti government in the last two and a half years, and we could see the contentment on people’s faces.”

This is the first state election following the split in Shiv Sena, and NCP after Shinde and Ajit Pawar left the original parties and joined the BJP Mahayuti alliance. The alliance resulted in the downfall of the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government, which came to power in 2019. Political developments over the past five years have fragmented and divided alliances, parties, ideologies, and voter support bases.

Around a dozen political parties, including the six main political parties-- BJP, Shiv Sena (Shinde), NCP (Ajit Pawar), Congress, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and NCP (Sharad Pawar) divided into two alliances— the Mahatyuti and Mahavikas—are in the fray. Nearly 7000 candidates are in the fray for the elections contesting the elections for the 288-seat assembly.

Voting will be held on Wednesday, 20 November, and results will be declared on 23 November.

The elections are crucial for both the rival alliances. While the BJP hopes to strike a hat trick and retain power, the MVA aims to unseat the ruling coalition. The election is also key for the survival of the regional parties—Shiv Sena and NCP—and for retaining their regional identity and politics in Maharashtra.