The Mahayuti alliance is forecast to win the Maharashtra election by a huge margin against the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) grouping, according to two new exit polls that came on Thursday, a day after voting ended in the most densely contested election in the state with factions of two major parties fighting.

The Mahayuti, or the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), is forecast to win 178-200 seats in the 288-seat assembly, according to an exit poll by Axis My India. The halfway mark is 145.

It predicted the MVA would win 82-102 seats, which is in line with most exit polls that came on Wednesday.

Another exit poll by Today’s Chanakya gave 175 seats to the NDA, and 100 to the MVA, an alliance comprising the Congress, and Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena and Sharad Pawar’s National Congress Party (NCP) factions.

Region wise, the Axis My India exit poll gave the NDA 24 seats in Konkan, 30 in Marathwada, 22 in Mumbai, 38 in North Maharashtra, 39 in Vidarbha, and 36 in West Maharashtra.

For the MVA, it predicted 13 in Konkan, 15 in Marathwada, 14 in Mumbai, 7 in North Maharashtra, 20 in Vidarbha, and 21 in West Maharashtra.

The turnout in Maharashtra was 66 per cent as per electronic voting machine (EVM) votes, up from 61.1 per cent in 2019, Election Commission officials said on Thursday.

“The official figures for each assembly constituency will depend on the count of postal ballots reported. The 66 per cent turnout figure refers specifically to the votes cast on electronic voting machines,” the Chief Electoral Officer said in a statement.

The increase, excluding postal ballots, highlighted the EC’s efforts to engage a broader electorate, the statement added.

Kolhapur led with 76.63 per cent, followed by 75.26 per cent in Gadchiroli, which has some Left-Wing Extremism affected pockets, while the lowest was in Mumbai island city at 52.07 per cent, and the metropolis’ suburban district at 55.95 per cent.