09 May,2024 04:03 PM IST | Satara | mid-day online correspondent
Sharad Pawar. File Pic
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP SP) chief Sharad Pawar has claimed that the first three phases of the Lok Sabha elections 2024 have proved to be unsettling for PM Modi, according to the ANI.
Sharad Pawar on Thursday said, "The first three phases of elections have proved to be unsettling for Modi. This has changed the tone of his campaign. Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) is likely to get 30 to 35 seats in Maharashtra. MVA candidates will be elected with a good margin," the ANI reported.
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The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) comprises of Sharad Pawar-led NCP, Congress and the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena. The parties are also part of the INDIA bloc.
Talking to reporters in Satara of western Maharashtra, Sharad Pawar elaborated on his merger with the Congress remark, saying that several parties have an ideology that is similar to that of the grand old party.
Asked about his assessment of the Lok Sabha elections after the completion of three phases, the former Union minister said, "It seems that voting in all these three phases is unsettling for Modi and the reason (for saying this) is that after these phases, PM Modi has changed his tone."
"He has started making a mention of Muslim community openly (in his speeches). It seems he thinks that the situation would change by bringing in communal thoughts. It is my observation that some people in his party think that as the phases complete, his position is getting in danger," he said, as per the PTI.
Meanwhile, voting was held in 11 out of the 48 Lok Sabha constituencies in Maharashtra on May 7 in the third phase of the general elections.
Maharashtra recorded a voter turnout of 54.09 per cent on Tuesday in the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections 2024, the officials said, reported the PTI.
The first two phases of polling in the state saw more than 62 per cent voter turnout.
As per the data shared by the election authorities, the Kolhapur seat saw the highest turnout of 63.71 per cent, while the Baramati seat, where two members of the politically influential Pawar family were locked in a bitter tussle, recorded the lowest turnout of 47.84 per cent, according to the PTI.
In Maharashtra's Baramati, NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule was pitted against Sunetra Pawar, wife of the veteran leader's estranged nephew and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.
Meanwhile, Hatkanangale recorded a voter turnout of 62.18 per cent, Osmanabad 56.84 per cent, Latur 55.38 per cent, Satara 54.74 per cent, Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg 53.75 per cent, Sangli 52.56 per cent, Raigad 50.31 per cent, Madha 50.00 per cent and Solapur 49.17 per cent, as per the PTI.
Prominent contestants in this phase of polling in the state included royal scions Shahu Chhatrapati of the Congress in Kolhapur and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s Udayanraje Bhosale in Satara as well Union minister Narayan Rane in Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg.
Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, his wife Sunetra Pawar and his mother Asha Pawar were among the early voters. They cast their votes at a polling booth in Baramati, where Sunetra is pitted against her sister-in-law Supriya Sule, the sitting MP from there.
NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar, his wife Pratibha Pawar, daughter Supriya Sule and her family, MLA Rohit Pawar and his family had also voted in Baramati.
(with ANI and PTI inputs)
