India, March 17 -- MUMBAI Between North India, where the BJP is aiming to do well, and the southern part of the country where it faces a tough contest, the 48 seats in Maharashtra could be a significant factor in the war between the NDA and the opposition coalition INDIA. With the highest number of seats after UP, the state will play a crucial role in the great battle.

In the 2014 and 2019 elections, which saw a straight fight between the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance and the Congress-NCP combine, the BJP-Sena had won 40-plus seats in Maharashtra, which comprised over 10 per cent of the BJP-led NDA's national tally of 336 (2014) and 353 (2019).

In this election too, the two alliances are pitted against each other but the difference is that the...