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‘Accept defeat’: Devendra Fadnavis on Sharad Pawar's Maharashtra poll comparison
Responding to the remarks, Fadnavis pointed out at the results of the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections as well as those in 2019.
Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis responded on Sunday to Nationalist Congress Party (NCP SP) Chief Sharad Pawar’s remarks on the Mahayuti alliance’s win in the Assembly elections.
Fadnavis asked the opposition parties to ‘accept defeat’ and ‘introspect’ the reasons for it.
Pawar had called the comparison between votes polled and seats won by the parties ‘surprising’. According to him, his party and ally Congress won fewer seats despite getting more votes than NCP (Ajit Pawar faction) and Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction).
Responding to the remarks, Fadnavis pointed out that in the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured more votes but won only nine seats in the state.
“Let's see what happened in the 2024 Lok Sabha, BJP got 1,49,13,914 votes and 9 seats, but Congress got 96,41,856 votes and 13 seats. Shiv Sena got 73,77,674 votes and 7 seats, while NCP-Sharad Pawar group got 58,51,166 votes and 8 seats. The example of 2019 Lok Sabha is very telling. Congress got 87,92,237 votes and got 1 seat, while the then NCP got 83,87,363 votes and got 4 seats. If you accept defeat, you will get out of this quickly! It is hoped that you will at least advise your colleagues to introspect,” Fadnavis wrote in a post on X.
The Maharashtra Assembly results
The BJP-led Mahayuti Alliance got a thumping majority, winning 230 seats in the 288 member Maharashtra Assembly. Other prominent members of the Alliance also performed well with NCP (Ajit Pawar faction) getting 41 seats while Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction) got 57 seats.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) comprising Congress, NCP (SP) and Shiv Sena (UBT) managed just 46 seats between them. The NCP (SP) won just 10 of the seats it contested. The Congress won 16 while Udhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT) won 20 seats.
