Maha MLC polls: Praful Patel calls for introspection within NCP

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and NCP MP Sunetra Pawar (right) with her sons Parth Pawar (centre) and Jay Pawar (second right) and party MP Praful Patel. File | Photo credit: PTI

Nationalist Congress Party President Praful Patel on Wednesday (Oct 28, 2026) called for introspection within the party after trends in the Maharashtra Legislative Council elections showed the NCP trailing in its only allotted seat. “Today’s Vidhan Parishad election results serve as a definitive wake-up call. The time has come for an urgent introspection to rebuild trust, realign our priorities and fix our organizational structure,” X wrote on his social media site.

Earlier, the top leadership, including Mr Patel and Sunil Tatkare, had expressed displeasure over the party being denied the Pune alumni seat. A section of the party leadership felt that it had an advantage in Pune as the seat was earlier held by a united NCP. During these elections, the BJP kept this seat for itself. NCP and NCP-SP have a strong presence in Pune.

The tweet brought to the fore the fault lines within the NCP after late leader Ajit Pawar’s wife Sunetra Pawar took charge of the party. There were clashes over the functioning style of her son Partha Pawar, who did not go down well with senior executives.

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar

In the seat-sharing talks for this MLC election, the NCP was offered only one of the five seats. On Wednesday (October 28, 2026), the party was seen hanging in the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar seat, where its rival, Sharadchandra Pawar’s NCP group, appeared to be leading.

NCP-SP candidate Pratapsinh Patil left NCP’s Satish Chavan behind. Results for the seat were not declared on Wednesday even as counting continued for the second consecutive day.

Published – 28 Oct 2026 21:06 IST