Sharad Pawar Claims 'Seat Guarantee' Offered Ahead Of Polls, D Fadnavis Says...

NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar has claimed that ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly elections, two individuals approached him offering a "guarantee" of 160 seats for the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance, well above the 145 needed for a majority in the 288-member House.

"I introduced them to Rahul Gandhi. He dismissed the offer and felt we should not get involved in such matters, but instead go directly to the people," Mr Pawar said in Nagpur.

This marks the first time in recent years that the veteran leader has publicly questioned the Election Commission of India (ECI). The BJP has countered that if the incident was genuine, Pawar should have alerted authorities at the time.

Reacting to Pawar's statement, Chief Minister Fadnavis questioned its timing. "Why did Mr Pawar remember this after meeting Rahul Gandhi? For many years, even though Rahul spoke of EVMs, Mr Pawar said it was wrong to raise such doubts. This change is the impact of their meeting," he said.

Mr Pawar's comments coincided with the Maharashtra Congress' observance of the 83rd anniversary of the Quit India Movement. The party organised a padyatra from the Tilak statue to August Kranti Maidan in Mumbai, led by state president Harshwardhan Sapkal, Mahatma Gandhi's great-grandson Tushar Gandhi, and later joined by Mumbai Congress chief Varsha Gaikwad.

The march, while commemorative, also became a political platform. Mr Sapkal likened the BJP's governance to colonial rule, invoking Mahatma Gandhi's "Do or Die" call. "Just as Gandhi told the British to quit India, today we must tell the BJP to quit its dictatorial ways," Sapkal said. Ms Gaikwad questioned why Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was speaking on behalf of the ECI.

The Chief Minister defended the electoral process, calling India's elections "free and fair" and accusing the opposition of avoiding formal complaints to the ECI despite making public allegations.