Central to the turnaround in Ajit Pawar's fortunes was the political consultancy handling his campaign - DesignBoxed, which has till now worked mostly with senior Congress leaders like DK Shivakumar, Ashok Gehlot, TS Singh Deo and a few Congress state units.

The BJP-led Mahayuti alliance secured decisive victories across Pune's 21 constituencies, with Ajit Pawar's NCP faction emerging as a strong contender in critical seats like Baramati and Hadapsar.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar is leading in Baramati, a stronghold of the Pawar family, as counting has begun for the Maharashtra assembly elections.

The NCP led by Sharad Pawar had the best strike rate during the Lok Sabha elections, winning eight of the 10 seats it contested with a vote share of 10.27 percent. In the Maharashtra assembly elections, the party won 13 seats, with a vote share of 11.67 percent.

The Maharashtra Assembly elections in Baramati are witnessing a compelling contest between NCP's Ajit Pawar and SP-backed Yugendra Pawar. This election holds significant implications as it marks the first electoral face-off between Ajit Pawar and his uncle,

Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena, and the NCP offshoot led by Ajit Pawar, have apparently flipped a chunk of seats - over 70 - from their parent parties to the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance in the Maharashtra election.

Ajit Pawar is the current the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, a position he has held multiple times during his political career.