Devendra Fadnavis Hits Back at Sharad Pawar Over Maharashtra Poll Comparison: ‘Accept Defeat'

Devendra Fadnavis Hits Back at Sharad Pawar: The very first Sunday of Maharashtra's newly-elected Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis included a sharp reply to what Sharad Pawar, chief of NCP-SP, had said regarding the victory of Mahayuti in Maharashtra elections. The opposition should now introspect and "accept defeat," according to him.

He often said that if comparison was made between the votes polled and the seats won there was definitely some surprising analogy between marks achieved and the seats obtained by political parties in this Maharashtra assembly-related.

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Fadnavis was responding to Sharad Pawar's accusations about Congress and NCP (SP) in indicating few seats despite getting more votes than Shiv Sena and NCP led by Ajit Pawar. For example, Fadnavis notes, "in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, BJP had more votes (1,49,13,914) but won only 9 seats. “Meanwhile, Congress received 96,41,856 votes and won 13 seats," Fadnavis noted in a post on X.

“Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde’s party) got 73,77,674 votes and 7 seats, while NCP-Sharad Pawar group got 58,51,166 votes and 8 seats," Fadnavis added while highlighting the Lok Sabha 2024 election results.

श्री शरद पवार साहेब, @PawarSpeaks
आपण ज्येष्ठ नेते आहात, किमान आपण तरी देशातील जनतेची दिशाभूल करू नका.
जास्त मतं मिळूनही कमी जागा कशा?
चला 2024 लोकसभेत काय झाले ते पाहू,
भाजपाला मतं 1,49,13,914 आणि जागा 9, पण काँग्रेसला मतं 96,41,856 आणि जागा 13.
शिवसेनेला 73,77,674 मतं आणि 7…

— Devendra Fadnavis (@Dev_Fadnavis) December 7, 2024

It comes after Sharad Pawar while addressing a press conference in Kolhapur on Saturday, said, “Congress got around 80 lakhs while the number of elected members from the party is 15. Shiv Sena got 79 lakh votes with 57 members elected. We (NCP-SP) got 72 lakh votes with 10 members elected. Ajit Pawar-led NCP received 58 lakh votes with 41 members elected."

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In Maharashtra assembly polls, while Sharad Pawar's party contested 87 seats, Ajit Pawar's NCP contested 59 seats.

“This is just the data we are presenting. Commenting on it at this point is not appropriate since we don’t have any more information," he said, adding fuel to the opposition’s ongoing protest over the alleged “misuse" of EVMs in the Maharashtra assembly elections.

BJP leaders were quick to dismiss the allegations regarding EVMs and said the opposition was searching for excuses to cover up its own failures.

According to Pawar, opposition defeats should not be a cause for losing heart but of going back to the grass roots that appear a bit inauspicious because of the massive BJP-led Mahayuti victory in the Maharashtra elections.

The alliance of BJP-NCP-Shiv Sena won an unprecedented 230 seats out of 288 in the November 20 state polls.

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