Two persons met me before 2024 Maharashtra assembly polls, guaranteed 160-seat win: Sharad Pawar

NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday claimed that two individuals had met him in New Delhi before the 2024 Maharashtra assembly polls and “guaranteed” the Opposition’s victory in 160 of 288 constituencies.

Addressing the media in Nagpur, Pawar said he introduced the duo to the leader of the opposition, Rahul Gandhi.

The disclosure by Pawar comes amid a huge row over Gandhi’s “vote theft” charge against the BJP and the Election Commission.

“Two persons met me in New Delhi before the 2024 assembly polls in Maharashtra. They offered to help the Opposition (Maha Vikas Aghadi) win 160 of the 288 seats with a guarantee,” the former Union minister claimed.

“I introduced them to Rahul Gandhi. He ignored what was told to him. He was also of the view that we (Opposition) shouldn’t get involved in such things and go to the people directly,” he added.

Pawar claimed that since he didn’t assign any importance to claims made by the two individuals, he didn’t possess their names and contact details.

The BJP won 132 seats in the assembly elections with allies Shiv Sena and NCP adding 57 and 41 constituencies, respectively, to the saffron tally.

The Maha Vikas Aghadi, which bagged 30 of 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra months before the assembly elections were held, had attributed its rout to discrepancies in EVMs and fudging of data.

Gandhi on Thursday made explosive claims of a “huge criminal fraud” in polls through collusion between the BJP and the Election Commission, citing an analysis in a constituency in Karnataka, and saying it was “a crime against the Constitution”.