MUMBAI: The Maharashtra Lok Sabha election threw up some pitfalls for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) - led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) which is under the Mahayuti alliance comprising the BJP, Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and NCP (Ajit Pawar) in Maharashtra. 

Even as most exit poll surveys have predicted a lead for the Mahayuti, the ruling alliance group parties could win only 17 seats dwindling by less than half compared to 2019, while the opposition INDIA bloc under the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) of the Congress, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray)  and NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) won 30 of the 48 seats. 

Among the NDA while the BJP won on won nine seats, substantially less than the 23 it won in 2019, the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena bagged seven seats, and Ajit Pawar's NCP managed only one, adding up to a total of 17 out of 48 seats in the state. In 2014, the undivided Sena-BJP alliance had won 43 seats.  In the notable losses, Ajit Pawar's wife Sunetra Pawar was defeated in Baramati by Supriya Sule, daughter of Sharad Pawar. 

In Mumbai South, Shiv Sena (UBT) nominee Arvind Sawant defeated Shiv Sena’s Yamini Jadhav by 52,673 votes, from Mumbai South Central his party colleague Anil Desai won with a margin of 53,384 votes while in Mumbai North, Union minister Piyush Goyal of BJP defeated Bhushan Patil of Congress by 3,56,996 votes. Congress candidate Varsha Gaikwad won from Mumbai North Central seat defeating public prosecutor and lawyer Ujjwal Nikam of BJP by 1,65,14 votes.

In a sort of photo finish Shiv Sena's Ravindra Waikar won the Mumbai Northwest seat, defeating Shiv Sena (UBT) nominee Amol Kirtikar by a very narrow range of only 48 votes, which is among the smallest margins in the 2024 general elections, 

In the coastal Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg seat, Union minister Narayan Rane of BJP defeated Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Vinayak Raut by 47,858 votes. Among the notable wins for Congress included the seat of Amravati won by Balwant Wankhede against BJP's Navneet Rana with a margin of 19,731 votes, while BJP's senior leader and Union minister Nitin Gadkari defeated Congress nominee Vikas Thakre by 1,37,603 votes from Nagpur. 

Vishal Patil, a Congressman-turned-independent won the Sangli seat and later decided to join the MVA swearing his allegiance under the Congress banner.