Mumbai, June 4 (IANS): The MahaYuti, comprising BJP, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party, is set to miss its Mission 45 plus in Maharashtra.

BJP, which contested 28 seats (five seats more than 2019 elections), is leading only in 13 seats against 23 seats which it had won in the last general elections.

The Maha Vikas Aghadi, which campaigned on the "threat to the Constitution narrative, lured voters against MahaYuti.

Moreover, the BJP's move to leave 15 seats to the Shinde faction has gone completely against its poll plan of achieving Mission 45 plus as the voters have expressed their anger against Chief Minister Eknath Shinde for "aligning with the BJP to seek power".

Further, the transfer of votes between the two parties has not happened despite Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis exhorting the respective party members and voters to vote with the sole objective of making Narendra Modi the Prime Minister for the third successive term.

Despite putting in place an active and strong poll machinery up to the booth and panna levels, BJP could not bring the voters to the polling stations considering the voting percentage of 61.33 per cent in the five phases of polling against its target of 75 per cent.

Shinde's repeated attempt to strongly defend his decision to part ways with Uddhav Thackeray for the sake of Hindutva and to keep Balasaheb Thackeray's thoughts intact has failed to create magic.

Contrary to expectations, the induction of Ajit Pawar-led NCP in the MahaYuti has failed miserably to bring in the desired change, especially in the cooperative-rich Western Maharashtra where NCP SP has gained further grounds.

Even though Ajit Pawar's faction got a paltry four seats against its desire of 10 to 13 seats, the party failed to convince the voters of its move to side with the BJP leaving Sharad Pawar.

Furthermore, Ajit Pawar's move to field his wife Sunetra Pawar against his estranged cousin and NCP SP nominee Supriya Sule from Baramati seems to have gone against him.

The Baramatikars have preferred to vote for Supriya to keep Sharad Pawar's legacy intact. The voters from Baramati have also voted Supriya for Lok Sabha while hinting that Ajit Pawar will be their first choice in the upcoming state assembly elections likely in October this year.

More importantly, the protests by Marathas and OBCs over politically crucial reservation issues have cost MahaYuti heavily. A visible divide based on caste and not on religion, especially in Marathwada has worked against MahaYuti. The state government's move to enact legislation providing a 10 per cent quota for the Maratha community did not yield positive results.

The trends have raised alarm for the MahaYuti ahead of the upcoming assembly elections as the MVA will certainly step up its efforts for its defeat.