The trends of 2014 Lok Sabha elections are turning out to be major embarrassment to the Raj Thackeray led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), as the party has not been able to make dent in the saffron vote bank in a single seat across Maharashtra.
In most of the seats such as Nashik, Kalyan, Pune, Mumbai South Central and Mumbai South; the party was thrown at the third position. The counting at many places is still on. However, the trends indicate that except for Kalyan seat, the party may not even touch the one lakh vote mark.
In 2009, the MNS factor had led to the defeat of saffron candidates in nine constituencies including five in Mumbai, as well as Thane, Nasik, Bhiwandi and Pune. The MNS placed second in Mumbai South and Nasik.
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The MNS polled over a lakh votes in each of six constituencies in Mumbai, dividing the saffron vote. This led to the Congress-NCP victory in 5 of the 6 Mumbai seats. Only Congress MP Priya Dutt won regardless of the MNS since her victory margin was higher than the combined vote of the two parties.
Prior to the elections, Mr. Thackeray had announced his support to the BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, but decided to contest the election against NDA's part and his arch-rival Shiv Sena.
However the strategy to seek votes in the name of Mr. Modi does not seem to have helped the MNS chief at all. The party has been sidelined even by the Marathi voters, which form its core vote bank. The party has also failed to re-deliver its performance in urban areas.
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