Fadnavis hits back at Sharad Pawar's election doubts, says 'don’t mislead people’

Fadnavis hits back at Sharad Pawar's election doubts, says 'don’t mislead people’

After Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar questioned the results of the recently concluded Maharashtra assembly elections, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis responded on Saturday, urging Pawar not to "mislead the people of the country."

Fadnavis, addressing Pawar's comments on social media, said, "Sharad Pawar, you are a veteran leader. At least, you should not mislead the people of this country… If you accept defeat, you will quickly come out of it. I hope you will advise your colleagues to self-introspect."

While speaking in Kolhapur on Saturday, Pawar expressed surprise at the Maharashtra Assembly election results, pointing out the mismatch between the votes received by different parties and the number of seats they won.

Pawar noted that Congress secured 80 lakh votes but only 15 of its candidates were elected, while Shiv Sena (Shinde) garnered 79 lakh votes but secured 57 seats. NCP (SP) received 72 lakh votes, yet only had 10 MLAs, while NCP (Ajit Pawar) won 58 lakh votes and gained 41 seats. He said these figures were puzzling and that his party would analyze the results further before commenting on the legitimacy of the EVMs.

In the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections, the ruling Mahayuti alliance secured a decisive victory, winning 235 seats. For the first time in 60 years, no party in the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) had enough seats to claim the position of Leader of Opposition.

Pawar remarked, "Though people have elected Mahayuti, they are not confident about the authenticity of the voting figures. There is unease among the people and that is why after the elections, Maharashtra did not witness enthusiasm." He also noted that he would visit Markadwadi village in Solapur's Malshiras taluka, where the police had halted an attempted "repoll" using ballot papers by the villagers.

In response to Pawar's remarks, Fadnavis on Saturday evening pointed to similar voting anomalies in previous elections. He highlighted that in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP received 1.49 crore votes but only won nine seats, while Congress, with fewer votes (96 lakh), won 13 seats. Similarly, Shiv Sena won seven seats with 73 lakh votes, and NCP (SP) won eight seats with 58 lakh votes.