Ahead of the Maharashtra election results, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led by Sharad Pawar has begun collecting support letters from its candidates to strengthen the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance.

This move comes in the wake of recent political developments, where the Shiv Sena and NCP factions split over the past five years, resulting in several MLAs leaving the party. To avoid future legal complications, NCP (SP) decided to gather these support letters, as confirmed by party leaders.

The party has directed all city unit and district presidents to collect the letters from NCP (SP) candidates and submit them to the state unit.

NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar, state president Jayant Patil, and MP Supriya Sule held online meetings with candidates on Friday, where they provided instructions for the vote-counting process.

“Don’t be swayed by exit polls. The MVA is crossing the magic figure of 157. Candidates should stay at counting centres until they receive their winning certificate,” said Pawar during the meeting.

Ankush Kakade, the acting president of the NCP city unit, confirmed that the letters will be submitted to the state unit by the end of the day.

Two NCP (SP) candidates from Pune district, who wished to remain anonymous, also confirmed they had signed support letters in favor of the MVA alliance.

Patil also briefed candidates on the plan for counting day during the meeting.