Assembly polls

ties had fought separately. The BJP had emerged as the singlelargest force, and later had a post-poll partnership with the Shiv Sena. The alliance has, however, often been acrimonious, particularly because the Shiv Sena was earlier the senior partner and now has had to accept a secondary status.

The t wo p a r t i e s f o ug ht together in the recent Lok Sabha polls, and won 41 of the 48 seats in the state. An analysis by election researcher, Ashish Ranjan, based on the Lok Sabha outcome, shows that the BJP-SHIV Sena was leading in 227 of the 288 assembly segments. The alliance for the state polls has not been formally announced yet, with negotiations over seat-sharing continuing between the two parties. But it appears certain that, if the alliance stays, the BJP will contest more seats, and Fadnavis will be the de-facto CM candidate.

The NDA is banking on Modi’s continued popularity, popular support for the Centre’s move in Kashmir, Fadnavis’ emergence as a strong state leader, both central and state-level welfare schemes, and t he f act t hat besides its own social coalition staying intact, the NDA will also be able to make inroads among the Maratha community after its decision to provide reservations to the group. The confidence was visible on Saturday, when Fadnavis, in response to a question on whether he will get another term, at the India Today Conclave in Mumbai, said, “Do you have any doubt?”

On the other side, the NCP and Congress have decided to contest 125 seats each. The alliance is banking on agrarian distress, drought in pockets of the state, rising unemployment, the perceived divide between the BJP and SS cadres on the ground, and NCP chief’s Sharad Pawar’s political and electoral skills.

However, leaders of the Opposition alliance, in private conversations, admit that they begin with a disadvantage and reversing the momentum of the BJP, so soon after the Lok Sabha sweep, would be a tall order. A spate of high-level desertions from both Congress and the NCP has depleted the leadership and dampened the morale of the workers.

Haryana has 90 assembly seats. In 2014, the BJP won 47 seats and has now set a target of 75+ seats in the state. The party won all the ten seats from the state in the Lok Sabha polls, with researcher Ashish Ranjan’s analysis showing that BJP was leading in 79 of the 90 assembly segments.

The BJP’S victory in the state in 2014 was due to both a high degree of anti-incumbency against the ruling Congress government of Bhupinder Singh Hooda, the appeal of Modi, and the consolidation of non-jat communities. Khattar, a low profile organisation man with a background in the RSS, was appointed as the CM after the poll victory. He came under criticism for his handling of the Jat agitation for reservations, the arrest of Ram Rahim during which 41 people were killed, and the protests against the film, Padmavat. But over the past two years, Khattar has strengthened his administrative hold, built an image of being “clean” and “honest”, focused on welfare delivery, and, while keeping non-jat communit i e s wi t h the party, expanded - to some extent - even BJP’S outreach to Jats. Modi’s own popularity and the support for move in Kashmir is also expected to help the BJP.

BJP’S primary battle is with the Congress. But the party has been in the grip of intense internal factionalism. Hooda was, for much of this period, waging a battle against the party’s chief, Ashok Tanwar. A compromise formula was found only earlier this month, when another leader Kumari Selja was appointed the party chief in the state, and Hooda made the campaign committee chief. But the divisions have percolated down to the ground. The Congress is also struggling to expand its social base beyond Jats, and for Jat support, is competing with two other forces -- Om Prakash Chautala’s Indian National Lok Dal, and its breakaway faction, Jannayak Janata Party. recommended that Meghalaya High Court Chief Justice Justice A K Mittal be transferred to the Madras High Court.

Justice Tahilramani was appointed as a judge of the Bombay High Court on June 26, 2001. She was due to retire on October 2, 2020.

While holding office as the acting chief justice of the Bombay High Court, she had in May 2017 upheld the conviction and life imprisonment of 11 people in the Bilkis Bano gang-rape case, which was transferred to Maharashtra from Gujarat by the top court.