Ajit Pawar Announces NCP’s Bid for Delhi Elections to Regain National Party Status

Mumbai: Following the recent victory in Maharashtra, Ajit Pawar on Thursday announced that the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) will contest the upcoming Delhi Assembly elections. This move is part of the NCP's broader strategy to reclaim its national party status. He was speaking at a felicitation event at the NCP headquarters. “We have previously held the status of a national party, and contesting the Delhi elections is a strategic step towards regaining that recognition,” Pawar said.

Speaking at the event, Pawar also rejected the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi's (MVA) allegations of EVM tampering. “The MahaYuti is united, and there are no differences,” Pawar said, highlighting the significance of the alliance’s first post-election meeting on Thursday evening, even as final confirmation awaited on the name of the chief minister amidst growing speculations. He downplayed the MVA’s criticism, calling their EVM allegations baseless. “When they won in Lok Sabha elections, EVMs were fine. Now, after a different outcome in the Assembly elections, they are raising unfounded concerns,” Pawar quipped.

The MVA has called for a return to ballot paper voting, but Pawar pointed out that states like Punjab, Delhi, Karnataka, Telangana, West Bengal, and Kerala have seen opposition victories using EVMs. “EVMs have worked in their favor before, but now that the results don’t suit them, they question the system,” he said.

The Maharashtra Assembly Election results came out on Saturday confirming a historic mandate to the MahaYuti alliance comprising of the BJP, Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar’s NCP. While BJP won 132 seats, Shiv Sena and NCP secured 57 and 41 seats respectively. The suspense lingers for over 100 hours as who will be the next chief minister amidst speculations of strains between BJP and Shiv Sena. Caretaker Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Wednesday announced that he will not be a hurdle in the process of Government formation, vowed his support to the United alliance ‘Mahayuti’. The decision is likely to be announced by Friday post a meeting between Mahayuti leaders and the central leadership of BJP.