Praful Patel calls MLC poll result a ‘wake-up call’ for NCP

NCP working president Praful Patel termed the party's Maharashtra Legislative Council election performance a 'definitive wake-up call' and called for urgent introspection and organisational reforms. In a social-media post on Wednesday, 28 October, Patel said the party must rebuild trust, realign priorities, and fix its organisational structure. Though he did not name anyone, his remarks are widely seen as directed at NCP leadership including deputy chief minister Sunetra Pawar and her son Parth Pawar.

The NCP drew a blank in the five-seat MLC polls. It contested only the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar graduates' constituency, where its sitting MLC Satish Chavan trailed against NCP (SP) candidate Pratapsinh Patil by more than 13,000 votes. Before the elections, the NCP had ceded its traditional stronghold of the Pune graduates' seat to the BJP. The ruling Mahayuti alliance leads in three seats and the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi in two. Counting continued for the Nagpur graduates' seat into Wednesday, 28 October, with the contest between Congress's Abhijit Wanjari and BJP's Sudhakar Kohale undecided as second-preference votes were being counted.

Update, 29 October 2026: The New Indian Express now reports that the BJP and NCP (SP) each won two of the five MLC seats, while the Shiv Sena won one, and adds that the Nagpur graduates' seat result remained undecided as counting entered a third round with second-preference votes expected to be decisive. It confirms NCP-SP candidate Harshada Deshmukh defeated BJP's Smita Jadhav in Pune Graduates.