Speaking in Jalna on 14 August 2026, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis declared that the people's verdict in the 2024 elections had conclusively settled the bitterly contested identity of two fractured Maharashtra parties — stamping legitimacy on Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena and the late Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party.

Fadnavis posted in both Marathi and Hindi, stating: 'Loknyayalayane 2024 chya nivaḍaṇukīt Shivsena hī Upamukhyamantrī Eknath Shindejī yānchī āṇi Rāṣṭravādī Kāṃgreṣ hī mājī Upamukhyamantrī sva. Ajitdādā Pavār yānchī āhe, yāvar shikkāmorṭab kelē āhe' — roughly: 'The court of the people has put its seal on the fact that in the 2024 election, Shiv Sena belongs to Deputy CM Eknath Shinde and the Nationalist Congress Party belongs to former Deputy CM, the late Ajitdada Pawar.'

Two splits, one coalition, and a verdict Fadnavis claims is final

Maharashtra's ruling Mahayuti coalition was forged from the wreckage of two dramatic party fractures. In 2022, Eknath Shinde broke from the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, allied with the BJP, and toppled the state government. A year later, in 2023, Ajit Pawar split from the Sharad Pawar-led NCP and joined the same coalition as Deputy Chief Minister. Both splits triggered fierce legal battles over party names, symbols, and electoral legitimacy — battles that played out before the Election Commission and the courts.

The 2024 Maharashtra assembly elections delivered a sweeping majority to the Mahayuti alliance, a result the coalition has since wielded as the ultimate democratic endorsement. Fadnavis's remarks in Jalna frame that victory as the definitive public arbitration — the 'Loknyayalaya' (people's court) — on which factions hold the true mandate of their respective parties.

The reference to the late Ajit Pawar

Notably, Fadnavis refers to Ajit Pawar as 'sva.' — a Marathi honorific used for the deceased — describing him as 'former Deputy Chief Minister.' The post's research flags this reference as unverified, and NationPress is not in a position to independently confirm the circumstances surrounding this description at the time of writing. The political claim in the post, however, is clear: that the NCP faction Ajit Pawar led retains its legitimacy as the 'real' NCP in the eyes of the electorate.

For the ruling coalition, the narrative serves a dual purpose — consolidating the identity of its constituent parties ahead of any future electoral or legal challenges, while keeping pressure on the rival factions led by Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar. The opposition blocs continue to contest both the moral and legal ownership of their respective party names and symbols.