The allegations levelled by the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, created quite a stir in the political world last week, but some of those were specifically related to constituencies in the Maharashtra state. The allegation that there was an unreasonable rise in the number of voters as well as a rise in voting in the late hours on voting days was mainly about the Maharashtra constituencies. This has given some opportunity to the opposition parties in Maharashtra, mainly the MVA alliance, to get galvanised and raise questions over the poll process. The big question, however, is how long will this enthusiasm last, and will this galvanisation be enough for them to join hands ahead of the big civic poll?

Currently, with over 300 seats won in the last assembly polls in Maharashtra, the BJP-led Mahayuti is firm in its saddle, and the opposition looks like it has been scattered since the November 2024 results of the state assembly. The opposition, that is, Sharad Pawar's NCP, the Congress party and Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena, did very well in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls; however, they just could not repeat the performance mainly because of the Direct Benefit Transfer schemes (DBT) rolled out by the government and the disputes over seat........

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