Ajit beats uncle Sharad Pawar's NCP-SP in 29 seats in direct fight

In the bout between the two Nationalist Congress Party outfits, seen as a contest between Sharad Pawar and his nephew Ajit Pawar, the latter stole the show, winning 29 seats in the Maharashtra assembly elections.

IMAGE: Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde (centre) with deputy CMs Ajit Pawar (right) and Devendra Fadnavis (left) address a press conference as the Mahayuti is set to form the government in the state, at Varsha Bungalow in Mumbai, November 23, 2024. Photograph: ANI Photo

Ajit Pawar's NCP, a constituent of Mahayuti, was winning or leading in 41 of the 59 seats it contested as per the latest figures released by the Election Commission.

By contrast, the NCP-Sharadchandra Pawar led by his uncle had to contend with only 10 victories, though it had fielded 86 candidates.

The NCP, founded by the senior Pawar, split last year after Ajit Pawar walked away with 41 MLAs and aligned with the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and BJP to become a part of the Mahayuti government, triggering an acrimonious intra-family rivalry.

The 65-year-old politician faced a big setback in the Lok Sabha polls when his cousin and Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule defeated his wife Sunetra Pawar on their home turf Baramati.

On Saturday, Ajit Pawar defeated his nephew Yugendra Pawar, endorsed by 83-year-old Sharad Pawar, by a margin of over 1 lakh votes, inflicting on the veteran leader the first-ever defeat in this family bastion.

The 29 seats that NCP bagged in a direct fight with NCP-SP candidates are:

In Sindhkhed Raja, Manoj Kayande defeated sitting MLA Rajendra Shingane, who had earlier sided with Ajit Pawar but subsequently returned to his parent party.

Aheri saw another intra-family battle, with Dharmarao Atram defeating his daughter Bhagyashree of NCP-SP.

Indranil Naik beat Sharad Maind in Pusad, while Chandrakant Navghare came in top in the face-off against Jaiprakash Dandegaonkar in Basmath.

Prominent OBC leader and Maharashtra minister Chhagan Bhujbal defeated Manikrao Shinde in Yeola. In Sinnar, Manikrao Kokate won against Uday Sangale.

Maharashtra assembly deputy speaker Narhari Zirwal of NCP retains Dindori seat, registering triumph over Sunita Charoskar.

Daulat Daroda beat Pandurang Barora in Shahapur, while former minister Nawab Malik's daughter Sana Malik won against Fahad Ahmad, who is also the husband of actor Swara Bhasker, in Mumbai's Anushaktinagar in a high-decibel contest.

Anil Navgane of NCP-SP was bested by minister Aditi Tatkare in the coastal Srivardhan. In Ambegaon, her cabinet colleague Dilip Walse Patil defeated Devdutt Nikam.

Shirur constituency saw Dnyaneshwar Katke winning the fight against Ashok Pawar.

Anna Bandsode trounced Sulakshana Dhar in Pimpri, while Kiran Lahamate defeated Amit Bhangare in Akole.

In Kopargaon, Ashutosh Kale beat Sandeep Varpe.

Sangram Jagtap defeated Abhishek Kalamkar in Ahmednagar City. In Majalgaon, Prakash Solanke marched to victory, leaving behind Mohan Jagtap.

Minister Dhananjay Munde took a whopping lead of 1.4 lakh votes over Rajesaheb Deshmukh to emerge as the winner in Parli of Beed district in the Marathwada region.

Babasaheb Patil defeated Vinayak Jadhav Patil in Ahmedpur, while Sanjay Bandsode scored over Sudhakar Bhalerao in Udgir.

In Phaltan, Deepak Chavan was bested by Sachin Patil. His party colleague Makrand Patil defeated Aruna Pisal in Wai. Shekar Nikam won the face-off against Prashant Yadav in Chiplun.

Minister Hasan Mushrif registered victory in Kagal by trouncing Samarjit Ghatge. Kashinath Date beat Rani Lanke in Parner and Raju Karemore defeated Charan Waghmare in Tumsar.

In Indapur, Datta Bharne won against Harsvardhan Patil, who crossed over from the BJP to NCP (SP) before the November 20 polls.

Sharad Pawar's party has polled 11.29 percent of all votes. The figure for NCP stood at 9.01 percent.

Referring to the rivals as “traitors”, Sharad Pawar had asked voters to defeat them “decisively”. The results show voters ignore the appeal.