As the final numbers for the Lok Sabha set in, NDA is looking at a total tally of 353 seats in the Lower House. BJP led NDA has been successful in adding to its spectacular performance in the 2014 general elections by jumping from 282 in 2014 to 303 in 2019 general elections. In Maharashtra too, NDA repeated its stellar performance by winning 41 out of the total 48 Parliamentary Constituencies in the State. UPA, on the other hand, replicated its dismal performance. In Maharashtra Congress just won on 1 out of the total 25 seats it contested. Congress’ alliance partner NCP only emerged victorious on 4 seats out of the total 19 seats it contested on.
Congress ‘dismal performance can surely be attributed to the nationwide sentiment against the grand old party. However for NCP, given its performance, has surely emerged as the biggest loser in the State. Raigad, Satara, Shirur and Baramati were the only Parliamentary constituencies where the party had emerged victorious in face of what is being called tsuNAMO 2.0 in Maharashtra.
For NCP this downfall was imminent given the rise of anti dynasty sentiment among the Indian electorate. Former CM of Maharashtra, former Union Cabinet minister and veteran NCP leader Sharad Pawar had also opted out of the Loksabha race. Sharad Pawar who after his multiple stints in the congress party, ultimately left the party in 1999 on grounds of dispute over his views on Congress having a native born prime ministerial candidate and not Sonia Gandhi who was born in Italy. Sharad Pawar then co-founded NCP in the June of 1999.
He, in a meeting with his party workers, had informed them about his decision to not contest the Loksabha Elections from Madha Constituency in 2019 elections which is currently held by NCP’s Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil. In a bid to accommodate his grand nephew Parth Pawar who contested from the Maval Parliamentary Constituency, which he lost to Shiv Sena’s Shrirang Barne by a margin of over 2 lakh votes.
Many experts had also pointed out that Parth Pawar with his limited political knowledge being parachuted into the electoral battleground of Maval, an industrial and farming region in western Maharashtra was a blunder. Parth had also been called out with his initial impressions for being clueless about politics, lacking charisma and “speaking Marathi like an Englishman”.
Ajit Pawar, senior NCP leader and ex- Dy CM of Maharashtra had also gone the extra mile to secure victory for his son, Parth Pawar in the Lok Sabha polls. According to sources, Ajit Pawar had personally contacted 80 BJP and 5 Shiv Sena corporators, in the industrial city of Maval, to lend a helping hand to secure victory for his son. Parth Pawar , a London educated lad who had been directly brought in the center of NCP’s huge dynastic political empire, to fight the electoral battle from Maval, he seemed to be disjoint from the political realities of Maharashtra.
NCP patriarch Sharad Pawar was also seen trying hard to bring together anti-BJP parties together in a single fold, however like in Delhi, where alliance talks between AAP and Congress failed, and his attempts went unfruitful.
NDA is poised to carry on this momentum forward to the upcoming assembly elections in the state, which might further prove to be detrimental for NCP’s electoral prospects. The election results also point out towards the traditional Maratha vote shifting away from the NCP. With traditional vote bank shifting allegiance and party losing hold in Western Maharashtra, the road ahead for NCP is surely difficult.