Maharashtra election results: Pawar-ful Ajit’s NCP wins four seats in uncle Sharad’s party | India News – Times of India

MUMBAI: Sharad Pawar’s self-styled swan song in electoral politics ended in a snag, with his cousin’s NCP winning more than four times as many seats as his own party could muster. In retaliation for Ajit’s decision to pit his wife against Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule, the Maratha war horse had once again turned the Baramati match into a prestige fight, pitting Ajit’s cousin against him. The gamble yielded no results.
Ajit’s NCP has increased its tally from just six assembly segment leaders in the LS results to a total of 41 MLAs, defeating senior Pawar nominees in 27 head-to-head clashes; the latter won 7 of those matches.
Ajit has expanded his power over western Maharashtra (22 seats), Marathwada (10) and Vidarbha (5), while the majority of seats the senior Pawar retained were all in western Maharashtra.
“Maharashtra goes pink,” Deputy CM Ajit Pawar said on his social media account, highlighting the role played by the Ladki Bahin Scheme in Mahayuti‘s and his own NCP’s victory on Saturday.
His party’s dismal performance in the Lok Sabha elections, where it won only one of the four contested seats, is reflected in its win of 40 seats in the assembly polls is a transformation that almost no one could have seen coming. However, it came from humility to recognize mistakes, the strength and endurance to fight a hard campaign when the chips were down, and the skill to recognize a winner.
Ajit and his group of seasoned politicians whom he brought with him when he split NCP in 2023 did all this – they did not repeat the mistakes they made in the LS polls – campaigned tirelessly, especially in the hinterlands; and recognized the game-changing potential of Ladki Bahin Yojnawhich goes so far as to adopt pink, a feminine shade, as a campaign color.
He had brought 40 MLAs with him when he split NCP. On Saturday, his party won as many seats with a strike rate of 75%, strengthening its position in the BJP-led Mahayuti.
Ajit, who set a milestone in the Pawar-Pawar battle by defeating cousin and NCP-Sharad Pawar candidate Yugendra Pawar in Baramati, has earned the right to call his NCP “the real NCP”.
While Sharad Pawar’s NCP went to the polls on the back of Lok Sabha success, Ajit Pawar was defeated and had just five months to get the party going again.
The NCP’s decision to focus on Ladki Bahin Yojna without getting into a credit war with its allies over it has worked. “It is still early days but we know we have won in villages. Choosing pink as the campaign color was a masterstroke,” said a senior neta. During the LS polls, the NCP has taken an aggressive stand against Sharad Pawar. This time the party avoided any direct attack on Pawar. “When Mahayuti’s Sadabhau Khot made some controversial comments, Ajit was quick to register his protest. He also admitted his mistake in pitting his wife Sunetra against Supriya Sule in Baramati. These steps helped reduce sympathy for Sharad Pawar too weak,” said another neta.