Maharashtra and Haryana will go to the polls in single-phase elections on Wednesday. These elections will determine whether the ‘Modi effect’ has percolated to the States beyond the 2014 general election.
For the Congress, it is a test of its ability to arrest a slide that saw it touching a historic low of 44 seats in the Lok Sabha polls.
The most at stake is in Maharashtra where the BJP chose to break its 25-year-old alliance with the Shiv Sena to strike out on its own. The BJP’s gamble in these elections could redefine Maharashtra politics.
The rupture of the Congress-NCP alliance that ruled the State for the past 15 years has made it a five-cornered fight with the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena being the fifth in the fray.
In Haryana too, the BJP is going solo, contesting all 90 seats, with Mr. Modi as its mascot.
