In the contest between the two rival NCP factions in the Maharashtra assembly elections, the Ajit Pawar-led party defeated the outfit headed by his uncle Sharad Pawar on 29 seats.
The NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) came out a winner in six constituencies.
The Nationalist Congress Party of deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, a constituent of Mahayuti, was winning or leading in 41 of the 59 seats it contested as per the latest figures released by the Election Commission.
The NCP (SP) led by his uncle had to be content with only ten victories, though it had fielded 86 candidates.
The NCP, founded by the senior Pawar, split last year after Ajit walked away with 41 MLAs and aligned with the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and BJP to become part of the Mahayuti government, triggering an acrimonious intra-family rivalry.
Ajit faced a big setback in the Lok Sabha polls when his cousin and Sharad Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule defeated his wife Sunetra Pawar on their home turf Baramati.
On Saturday, Ajit Pawar defeated his nephew Yugendra Pawar, endorsed by 83-year-old Sharad Pawar, by a margin of over 1 lakh votes, inflicting on the veteran leader the first-ever defeat in this family bastion.
The 29 seats that the NCP bagged in a direct fight with the NCP (SP) candidates included Sindhkhed Raja where Manoj Kayande defeated sitting MLA Rajendra Shingane who had earlier sided with Ajit Pawar but subsequently returned to his parent party.
Aheri saw another intra-family battle, with Dharmarao Atram of the NCP defeating his daughter Bhagyashree of NCP (SP).
Indranil Naik beat Sharad Maind of NCP (SP) in Pusad, while Chandrakant Navghare came in top in the face-off against Jaiprakash Dandegaonkar of NCP (SP) in Basmath.
Prominent OBC leader and Maharashtra minister Chhagan Bhujbal defeated Manikrao Shinde of NCP (SP) in Yeola. In Sinnar, Manikrao Kokate won against Uday Sangale of NCP (SP).
Maharashtra assembly deputy speaker Narhari Zirwal of NCP retained his Dindori seat, registering a triumph over Sunita Charoskar.
Daulat Daroda beat Pandurang Barora in Shahapur, while former minister Nawab Malik’s daughter Sana Malik won against NCP(SP)’s Fahad Ahmad, who is also the husband of actor Swara Bhasker, in Mumbai’s Anushaktinagar in a high-decibel contest.
Anil Navgane of NCP (SP) was bested by minister Aditi Tatkare in the coastal Srivardhan. In Ambegaon, her cabinet colleague Dilip Walse Patil defeated Devdutt Nikam.
Shirur constituency saw Dnyaneshwar Katke winning the fight against Ashok Pawar of NCP (SP).
Anna Bandsode trounced Sulakshana Dhar of NCP (SP) in Pimpri, while Kiran Lahamate defeated Amit Bhangare of NCP (SP) in Akole.
In Kopargaon, Ashutosh Kale beat Sandeep Varpe of NCP (SP).
Sangram Jagtap defeated Abhishek Kalamkar of NCP (SP) in Ahmednagar City. In Majalgaon, Prakash Solanke marched to victory, leaving behind Mohan Jagtap of NCP (SP).
Minister Dhananjay Munde took a whopping lead of 1.4 lakh votes over Rajesaheb Deshmukh to emerge as the winner in Parli of Beed district in the Marathwada region.
Babasaheb Patil defeated Vinayak Jadhav Patil of NCP (SP) in Ahmedpur, while Sanjay Bandsode scored over Sudhakar Bhalerao of NCP (SP) in Udgir.
In Phaltan, Deepak Chavan of NCP (SP) was bested by Sachin Patil. His party colleague Makrand Patil defeated Aruna Pisal of NCP (SP) in Wai. Shekar Nikam won the face-off against Prashant Yadav of NCP (SP) in Chiplun.
Minister Hasan Mushrif registered victory in Kagal by trouncing Samarjit Ghatge. Kashinath Date beat Rani Lanke of NCP (SP) in Parner and Raju Karemore defeated Charan Waghmare of NCP (SP) in Tumsar.
In Indapur, Datta Bharne won against Harshvardhan Patil who had crossed over from the BJP to NCP (SP) before the November 20 polls.
Notably, Sharad Pawar’s party polled 11.29 per cent of all votes. The figure for the NCP stood at 9.01 per cent.
Referring to the rivals as “traitors”, Sharad Pawar had asked voters to defeat them “decisively”. The results show voters ignored the appeal.
The NCP (SP) candidates who defeated their NCP rivals included Jitendra Awhad who defeated Najeeb Mulla in Mumbra Kalwa.
Bapusaheb Pathare defeated Sunil Tingre in Vadgaon Sheri.
Sandeep Kshirsagar defeated Yogesh Kshirsagar in Beed.
Abhijit Patil won in Madha leaving Minal Sathe of the NCP in the third position.
Raju Khare defeated Yashwant Mane in Mohol while state NCP (SP) chief Jayant Patil defeated Nishikant Patil in Islampur.
Rohit Patil defeated Sanjay Kaka Patil in Tasgaon Kavathe-Mahankal.