Sharad Pawar with Ajit Pawar.
Credit: PTI File Photo
Polling for the 288 member Legislative Assembly of Maharashtra will be held on November 20 and votes will be counted on November 23.
The BJP aims to retain power in the state with allies Shiv Sena, led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, and the NCP led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.
The Nationalist Congress Party, founded in June 1999, by Sharad Pawar, P. A. Sangma, and Tariq Anwar now refers to the Ajit Pawar-led faction after the 2023 split in the party. The Supreme Court of India granted the original party name and symbol to the Ajit Pawar faction while the Sharad Pawar- led faction is called NCP (SP).
NCP has played an important in the state as well as national politics, as part of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) for most of the years.
The party had its best assembly election performance in 2004 when it won 71 seats in Maharashtra after polling 18.75 per cent votes. Its alliance partner Congress had won 69 seats. NCP had emerged as the single largest party in the state.
In terms of vote percentage, the party had its best in 1999 assembly elections. Polling 22.60 per cent of the votes, the party won 58 seats paving way for a post poll alliance with Congress and eventual government formation in the state.
2019 Assembly elections performance
In the 2019 assembly elections, the undivided NCP contested the polls in alliance with Congress and won 54 seats of the 125 it contested. The party also managed to form government under Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition of Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP. However, the government fell apart after a split in Shiv Sena, led to current Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, along with 40 MLAs joining hands with BJP.
In July 2023, Ajit Pawar also joined the Shiv Sena-BJP government along with majority of NCP MLAs.
As of now, NCP has 40 MLAs in the 288 member assembly while NCP (SP) has 12.
2024 Lok Sabha elections
The Ajit Pawar-led NCP had a poor show in the first elections after the split in the party as it managed to win only one seat (Raigad) while NCP (SP) won 8 seats.
The 2024 Maharashtra Assembly polls are a litmus test for NCP and Ajit Pawar to prove his political prowess against his uncle Sharad Pawar.
Assembly Elections 2024 | The Maharashtra Assembly polls will take place against the backdrop of a fractured political landscape in the western state where the Shiv Sena and NCP will be going up against the Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar factions, even as the BJP and Congress try to make their mark. Meanwhile, in Jharkhand, the JMM faces a new challenge after Hemant Soren's recent arrest and Champai, a longstanding party member, joining the BJP. The Haryana election resulted in a shock loss for Congress, which was looking to galvanize on the Lok Sabha poll performance, while J&K also saw the grand old party eventually stepping away from the cabinet, with Omar Abdullah's JKNC forming government. It remains to be seen if the upcoming polls help BJP cement its position further or provide a fillip to I.N.D.I.A. Check live updates and track the latest coverage, live news, in-depth opinions, and analyses only on Deccan Herald.
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