The Big Test For BJP, Opposition In Maharashtra On November 20

Elections for 288 assembly seats of Maharashtra will be held on November 20. The counting of votes will take place three days later, the Election Commission announced this afternoon, setting off the countdown to the year's last key election.

The BJP and its allies - Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party -- hope to win despite the setback they suffered in the Lok Sabha polls earlier this year. The morale is high in the ruling camp, especially after the BJP won a historic third term in Haryana amid reports of anti-incumbency and Jat anger. 

The Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi -- the alliance of Congress, Uddhav Thackeray faction of Shiv Sena and the Sharad Pawar faction of the NCP -- which bested the ruling alliance, is counting on a repeat performance.

The Lok Sabha results, the MVA has claimed, decisively settled the question of which is the real Shiv Sena and the real NCP, even though the Election Commission has awarded the party names and election symbols to the rebel factions in both cases.  

The legacy issue was crucial for the Sena - Chief Minister Eknath Shinde having used that argument to justify the split. For Ajit Pawar, it was crucial to prove not just the party leaders, the public too would support the GenNext, instead of his uncle who should now take a back seat. 

But both allies failed - and the BJP too faced public wrath for masterminding the Sena split and backing the NCP rebels.

The outcome of the Lok Sabha polls was dismal for the ruling alliance, with the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi - winning 30 of the state's 48 Lok Sabha seats. The ruling alliance won 17. One seat went to an Independent candidate.