Mumbai: Claiming that the BJP-led NDA will fall short of a simple majority after the Lok Sabha poll results, the Nationalist Congress party (NCP) said Wednesday that its chief Sharad Pawar is playing a key role in the formation of an alternative regime.
NCP chief spokesperson Nawab Malik also said Pawar has repeatedly clarified that he is not a claimant for the Prime Minister’s post given his party’s limited strength.
“We are sure there would be a hung House. The NDA is not going to get a simple majority,” Malik told reporters here. “Pawar has repeatedly maintained he is not claiming the (Prime Ministerial) post, but he is playing a key role in formation of an alternative (coalition) government,” added Malik.
Sources in the party also said that Pawar throughout the day conducted telephonic discussions with regional party leaders including BJD’s Naveen Patnaik.
The NCP and its ally Congress would secure more than 22 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra, Malik said. The Pawar-led party will win the highest number of seats since its formation, he claimed.
NCP’s best performance so far is winning nine Lok Sabha seats (eight in Maharashtra and one in Meghalaya) in 2009.
On the controversy surrounding Electronic Voting Machines, the spokesperson said it was the responsibility of the Election Commission to create trust about them if doubts were being raised about their functioning. “But more doubts are creeping into people’s minds given the way the EC is acting,” Malik said.
PTI
