After Nationalist Congress Party (SP) chief Sharad Pawar raised doubts about the results of the recently concluded Maharashtra assembly elections, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday hit back at him by telling him not to “mislead the people of the country”.
“Sharad Pawar, you are a seasoned leader. At least don’t mislead the people of this country… If you accept defeat, you will get out soon. I hope you will advise your colleagues to introspect,” Fadnavis said in a post on social media.
Speaking in Kolhapur on Saturday, Pawar expressed surprise at the results of the Maharashtra assembly elections, citing voting figures for various parties and seats won by them.
“Congress got 80 lakh votes but 15 of its candidates were elected as MLAs. Shiv Sena (Shinde) got 79 lakh votes, they have 57 MLAs. NCP (SP) got 72 lakh votes and 10 MLAs. NCP ( Ajit Pawar) got 58 lakh votes, and 41 candidates became MLAs. We are yet to study them in depth, we We do not express doubts about EVMs,” Pawar said.
In Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2024, The ruling Mahayuti has registered a huge victoryIt has won 235 seats. In the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), no party could secure enough seats to become the leader of the opposition for the first time in six decades.
Even though the people elected Mahayuti, they are not confident about the authenticity of the voting statistics. There is discontent among the people and hence after the elections, Maharashtra has not shown enthusiasm,” said Pawar, who will later visit Markadwadi village in Malshiras taluk of Solapur district where police thwarted attempts to “repoll” by the villagers.
“I cannot understand the reason why the administration has stopped voting by ballot… I do not know what law has done this. I will visit Markadwadi and try to understand the issue,” he said.
Late on Saturday evening, Fadnavis responded to Pawar’s comments by citing data from previous elections. “You said your party won less seats despite getting more votes… Let us shed light on what happened in the 2024 (Lok Sabha) elections. BJP polled 1,49,13,914 votes and won nine seats. However, Congress won 13 seats by getting a total of 9,641,856 votes. Shiv Sena got 73,77,674 votes and won seven seats, NCP (SP) got 58,51,166 votes and won eight seats.
Fadnavis added, “The statistics of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections are worth highlighting. The Congress won one seat with 87,92,237 votes while the undivided CPN won four seats with 83,87,363 votes.”
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