Mumbai: The Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), seen by many ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly elections as the weakest link in the Mahayuti coalition, had the last laugh on Saturday as it won 41 of the 59 seats it contested.

The results settled the debate over which NCP faction wields greater electoral influence following the earlier party split in July last year. The Ajit Pawar-led NCP won 29 of the 40 seats it contested in a direct contest with the faction led by his uncle Sharad Pawar. Of the remaining 11 seats it contested, the NCP (Sharad Pawar) could only win seven as the remaining four were equally divided between the BJP and independents.

Ajit retained his bastion Baramati assembly constituency, which he has represented since 1991 for the past seven terms. He defeated his own nephew Yugendra in the field of Sharad Pawar. Yugendra is the son of Shrinivas Pawar, younger brother of Ajit. The Baramati results came as a big relief to Ajit after a shocking setback in the Lok Sabha polls when his wife Sunetra lost the seat to her cousin Supriya Sule.

In July 2023, the NCP broke into two factions after Ajit Pawar decided to join the ruling Mahayuti government by bringing 40 MPs with him. He was made Deputy Prime Minister and eight more leaders were elected to the Council of Ministers. Veteran leader Sharad Pawar, who formed the NCP, was left with around 15 MLAs. On the basis of having a majority of MLAs, ECI as well as Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narvekar awarded the party name and election symbol to the Ajit Pawar-led faction.

In the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, both factions contested only two seats – Baramati and Shirur – and the Sharad Pawar-led party won both. Consequently, the state assembly elections were seen as the real test for the NCP factions after they fielded candidates against each other in 40 seats.

Ajit Pawar emerged victorious in 13 seats from West Maharashtra which has been the bastion of the NCP and was able to overcome intense efforts from the Sharad Pawar camp. Important places among these were Baramati, Ambegaon, Indapur, Kagal, Hadapsar, Kopargaon, Shirur, Phaltan, Parner, Pimpri, Akole, Wai and Ahmednagar City.

Sanjay Tatkare, spokesperson of the Ajit Pawar-led NCP, said the people recognized them as the original NCP.

“The very fact that we could maintain our numbers… we were head-to-head in 40 seats and we won 29. The voters have recognized us as the original NCP and the same will be communicated to the Supreme Court and I am sure that we will get favorable results,” he said.