Mumbai: Less than 18 months after the rebellion by Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) legislators led by Ajit Pawar led to a vertical split within the party, the Ajit Pawar faction has emerged as the clear winner in the battle of NCP vs NCP.
In a deviation from its stellar performance in the Lok Sabha elections when it won eight seats, the NCP (SP) has managed to bag only 10 seats of the 86 it contested. The Ajit-Pawar-led NCP had won 40 seats and was leading in one more as of 9 pm, according to Election Commission data.
Of the 37 seats where the two factions of the NCP were facing each other, the NCP (SP) won eight seats, as against the Ajit Pawar-led NCP’s 29.
When the battle over who is the real NCP reached the Election Commission, it had handed over the party’s traditional symbol—the clock—to the faction led by Ajit Pawar. Party founder Sharad Pawar had challenged the decision in the Supreme Court, which directed the Ajit Pawar-led faction in October to declare in election-related posters that the symbol is sub-judice.
In the general election, the faction led by Sharad Pawar with its ‘trumpet’ symbol had exhibited a remarkable strike rate of 80 percent, winning eight of the 10 seats it contested. In contrast, the Ajit Pawar-led faction could only manage a win in one of the four seats where its candidates were in the fray.
Ajit Pawar, who returned as deputy chief minister after he decided to split the NCP and join hands with the Mahayuti comprising the BJP and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, won in Baramati—the assembly seat he has won seven times since 1991.
In the aftermath of the assembly elections in 2019, Sharad Pawar had engineered the formation of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) by bringing the Uddhav Thackeray-led undivided Shiv Sena and the Congress together.
But in June 2022, the MVA government was toppled after the split in the Sena, which was followed by the split in the NCP a year later. Sharad Pawar has since been trying to rebuild his party, concentrating on his strongholds—western Maharashtra and Marathwada.
How NCP heavyweights performed
As many as 40 NCP MLAs had backed the Ajit Pawar-led faction, while 14 rallied behind Sharad Pawar.
In the assembly elections this time, the faction led by Sharad Pawar fielded several newcomers, including senior Pawar’s grand-nephew Yugendra, who was pitted against Ajit Pawar in the family bastion of Baramati.
Of the big names from the Ajit Pawar-led faction in the fray—including Ajit Pawar himself, Chhagan Bhujbal, Dilip Walse Patil, Hassan Mushrif and Dhananjay Munde—all managed to win.
On the other side, Jayant Patil, Rohit Pawar and Jitendra Awhad were able to win.
In the Indapur constituency, Ajit Pawar’s trusted aide Dattatray Bharane was contesting against veteran politician Harshvardhan Patil, a four-time Indapur MLA who had joined the party ahead of these elections after he was denied a ticket by the BJP. Bharane won by 19,410 votes.
In the contest in Yevla between OBC leader and state minister Chhagan Bhujbal and Maratha leader Manikrao Shinde of the NCP (SP), Bhujbal won by a margin of 26,400 votes. This was a particularly interesting fight, given the larger context of Maratha vs OBC undercurrent in the state.
Another high-stakes fight was seen in Anushakti Nagar, where NCP veteran Nawab Malik’s daughter Sana from the Ajit Pawar-led NCP was in the fray against newcomer Fahad Ahmed of the NCP (SP). Ahmed is the husband of actor Swara Bhasker. Here, Ahmed lost by 3,378 votes.
Also read: NCP’s Sana Malik wins Anushakti Nagar amid ‘EVM tampering’ claims by Fahad Ahmad, Swara Bhasker