Maharashtra: Ajit Pawar wins from Mahrashtra's Baramati constituency

NCP leader and Sharad Pawar's nephew Ajit Pawar won with over 1 lakh votes for his constituency of Baramati as per trends. The Senior NCP leader was leading with 85% votes according to the Election Commission website. According to the data on the ECI website, all of his opponents have lost their deposits.

 “I don’t want to sound overconfident, but I can give it in writing that my winning margin this time will be over one lakh votes,” Ajit Pawar had said at a press conference.

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NCP improving its share in Maharashtra

Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) was leading in 27 of the total 66 constituencies in western Maharashtra according to trends till 10:50 am. In Maharashtra, the NCP contested with 125 seats. Ajit Pawar had resigned as MLA just ahead of the elections after being named by Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank scam. He had declared that he will ‘fight fire with fire’. The leader has served as the Deputy Chief Minister of the State. In the 2014 elections, Ajit Pawar won from Baramati by defeating the BJP candidate by a margin of 89,791 votes, pocketing a vote share of 65.92%.

Western Maharashtra has long been touted to be the NCP’s stronghold. NCP President Sharad Pawar aggressively campaigned throughout the State after his leaders from western Maharashtra were poached by Devendra Fadnavis. This is a crucial time for the NCP, with its chief is under the ED scanner and many of its leaders are joining the BJP.

NCP and Congress alliance

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Indian National Congress are in alliance for the Maharashtra Assembly Polls.  Both NCP and Congress contested on 125 seats each, former Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan announced on September 16. Maharashtra has 288 Assembly seats. In 2014, the two parties had contested in the State elections separately. NCP chief Sharad Pawar had ended the 15-year alliance after the two parties had been unable to reach a seat-sharing arrangement.

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