The counting of votes is underway for the single-phase Maharashtra election held on Wednesday. However, the BJP-led Mahayuti coalition has successfully crossed the majority mark in the assembly and is set to form the government.

The Mahayuti alliance according to the latest updates was headed to a landslide victory leading on more than 233 seats out of 288 against the Maha Vikas Aghadi. BJP alone is leading in more than 130 seats, as per Election Commission website.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Saturday said the results of the assembly elections were historic and decided to whom the Nationalist Congress Party and Shiv Sena belong to.

Holding a joint press conference here as the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP coalition was poised to win a massive victory, the leaders of the Mahayuti assured that the next government will be formed smoothly. Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said the people rejected the politics of appeasement and responded to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's `Ek Hai toh Safe Hai' message of unity. NCP chief and deputy CM Ajit Pawar averred that the ruling alliance will not get carried away by the landslide win, and will bring financial discipline. Referring to the poor showing of the rival factions, both Shinde and Ajit Pawar said the results showed to whom the Shiv Sena and NCP belong.

The prominent winning candidates from the BJP include sitting MLA Nitesh Rane, who retained the Kankavli assembly seat in Sindhudurg district by a margin of 58,007 votes, state assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar, who won the Colaba seat by 48,581, and Shivendraraje Bhonsle from Satara who retained the seat by a significant margin of 1,42,124 votes. Minister Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil retained the Shirdi seat by a difference of 70,282 votes. From the Shiv Sena, Nilesh Rane, the elder son of BJP MP Narayan Rane, won by a margin of 8,176 votes. State ministers from the party, Uday Samant and Deepak Kesarkar won from Ratnagiri and Sawantwadi constituencies by a margin of 41,590 votes and 39,899 votes respectively. The Shiv Sena has won 15 seats and is leading in 39 others. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar won 14 seats and is leading in 27 others. Deputy speaker of Maharashtra assembly Narhari Zirwal won the Dindori constituency in Nashik district by 44,403 votes. Aditi Tatkare won from Shrivardhan constituency in Raigad district by a margin of 82,798 votes.

In the state, the main contest was between the ruling Mahayuti coalition and the Opposition's Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA). The ruling alliance comprises the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena, and Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) faction. Meanwhile, the MVA includes Congress, Sharad Pawar's NCP-SP, and Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena (UBT).

Hemant Soren-led alliance all set to retain Jharkhand

Hemant Soren's JMM-led alliance was all set to retain Jharkhand as it was leading in at least 56 seats in the 81-member state assembly, as per Election Commission data on Saturday afternoon.

The performance of the BJP-led NDA, which was confident about its prospects in the state after an aggressive campaign, was poorer than its expectations. It was leading in just 23 seats.

The BJP's poll plank was driving out "infiltrators" from the Santhal Parganas region, but it seemed to have fallen flat in front of the 'Adivasi' card played by the JMM, which also sought the people's sympathy over the arrest of Chief Minister Hemant Soren.

Also, bickering within the BJP over giving nominations to turncoats seemed to have cost the party.

According to the latest EC figures, the JMM was leading in 33 of the 43 seats it contested, the Congress was ahead in 16 of the 30 seats where it fielded candidates, the RJD pulled a surprise and was leading in five of the six seats it fought, while the CPI(ML) Liberation was ahead in two of the four seats it fought.

The ruling coalition witnessed friendly fights in some seats.

The BJP was leading in 21 of the 68 seats it contested, while the LJP (Ram Vilas) was leading in the lone seat it fought, and the JD(U) was ahead in one of the two seats it contested. The AJSU Party was virtually wiped out with its candidates, including chief Sudesh Mahto, trailing in all 10 seats it contested.

The majority mark in the assembly is 41.

The chief minister was leading in the Barhait seat by 20,469 votes after 12 rounds of counting. His wife Kalpana Soren, credited with revitalising the JMM after the arrest of her husband, was leading by 1,612 votes in the Gandey seat after 14 rounds.

State BJP president Babulal Marandi was leading in the Dhanwar seat by 16,691 votes, former CM Champai Soren was nearing victory in Seraikela with a lead of 28,905 votes and Leader of Opposition Amar Kumar Bauri was trailing in the Chandankiyari seat by 33,426 votes.

Congress minister Banna Gupta was trailing JDU's Saryu Roy in the Jamshedpur West seat by 21,721 votes. In Ranchi, CP Singh of BJP was leading against JMM's Rajya Sabha MP Mahua Majhi by 23,308 votes.