Senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala said on Saturday that the result of the 2024 Maharashtra assembly elections is “unexpected, unbelievable and unacceptable.” He was addressing a press conference at Mumbai’s Tilak Bhawan office of the Congress.

He said that the result is unbelievable, because “it does not match the expectations and feelings of the people of Maharashtra.”

“This is a totally unexpected result. You may recall the results of the Lok Sabha elections only five months ago and compare it with the results of the 2024 Maharashtra assembly elections declared today,” he said.

“Is it possible that a very huge change has taken place in merely five months? You are aware that there farmers were facing problems, there has been unemployment and inflation or rise in prices. There have been several allegations and misgivings about the present state government ruling Maharashtra,” he added.

“All these issues are there before the people of Maharashtra. By merely implementing the Ladki Bahin Yojana, did all these problems vanish? That is why I would like to insist that the 2024 Maharashtra assembly election result is unbelievable,” Chennithala said.

“Only five months ago, the people of Maharashtra gave the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) a good mandate, in the parliamentary (Lok Sabha) elections. We haven’t found any major change since then. The Mahayuti government ruling Maharashtra did not implement any other policy which should have convinced the people to give them such a big mandate,” he said.

“On the contrary, people were speaking out against the government. Due to these reasons, on behalf of the All India Congress Committee I would like to convey to you that this result is unexpected, unbelievable and unacceptable to us,” Chennithala said.

He said that the Congress would investigate the Maharashtra assembly election result further after getting all the data.

“We spoke to all our workers. All of them are extremely surprised about the Maharashtra assembly results declared today. Everybody found it difficult to believe it. Our candidates who win regularly with good margins have lost. In some areas, we did not win even a single seat. So how can we believe this result? Even our veterans and good candidates of the NCP and Uddhav-led Shiv Sena whose victory was certain have ended up losing. Therefore, the Congress will deeply study these results and go among the people,” he said.

“We have great faith in the people of Maharashtra. We believe that the people of Maharashtra are unlikely to accept this result. The Congress will investigate the results and reach out to you all,” Chennithala said.

“Our Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Balasaheb Thorat, who has won eight times consecutively from the same constituency, has been defeated for the first time. Our veteran leader and former chief minister of Maharashtra Prithviraj Chavan has been defeated. Therefore, the Congress will study the results. We believe that these results do not tally with the feelings of the people of Maharashtra,” Chennithala said.