Hours after NCP (SP) president Sharad Pawar said the opposition should not lose heart after its defeat in the Maharashtra elections, as there is no enthusiasm in the state over Mahayuti’s victory, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Saturday that a senior leader like Sharad Pawar should not mislead people.


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Pawar said that the opposition should not lose heart over its rout but go back to the people who do not seem to be enthused by the massive victory of the BJP-led Mahayuti in the Maharashtra elections.


Responding to the NCP (SP) president's claims, Fadnavis stated that he should accept the defeat and advise his colleagues to introspect. "You will come out of this if you accept defeat. I expect you to give your colleagues advice on introspection," he stated on X.


Hitting back at Pawar, the Maharashtra CM resorted to election result numbers. BJP polled 1,49,13,914 votes and bagged nine seats in Maharashtra in the Lok Sabha elections, whereas Congress polled 96,41,856 votes and bagged 13 seats, he said. Shiv Sena (UBT) got 73,77,674 votes and won 7 seats, while NCP (SP) polled 58,51,166 votes and won 8 constituencies, he said.


The Opposition's priority would be to ensure that all the election promises made by the ruling alliance, including increasing the financial assistance to women under the Ladki Bahin scheme from Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,100, are implemented at the earliest, he said. Pawar said a comparison between votes polled and seats won by political parties in the Maharashtra assembly polls was surprising.


"It is true that we have been defeated. We should not fret over it but go back to the people, as no enthusiasm is visible among the people about the election results. There is a lot of resentment," the senior politician said at a press conference here.


The ruling BJP-NCP-Shiv Sena alliance won 230 out of 288 seats in the November 20 elections. Pawar said the comparison between votes polled and seats won by political parties in Maharashtra assembly polls was surprising. "Congress polled 80 lakh votes and won 15 seats, while Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena bagged 79 lakh votes and emerged victorious on 57 seats," he said.


Ajit Pawar's NCP polled 58 lakh votes and won 41 seats, whereas the NCP (SP) secured 72 lakh votes and won only ten seats, he said. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Congress polled 87,92,237 votes and won only one seat, while the undivided NCP secured 83,87,363 votes but won 4 seats, he added.


(With PTI Inputs)