More than 50 candidates in fray in Baramati, unopposed poll unlikely

Mumbai: The possibility of a unopposed election in Baramati appears remote as more than 50 candidates are in the fray for the polls that revolve around Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister and NCP national president Sunetra Pawar.

The by-elections were necessitated by the death of the then NCP national president Ajit Pawar (66), an eight-time MLA of Baramati and six-time Deputy Chief Minister.

Ajit Pawar, popularly known as Ajit Dada, died in a plane crash on 28 January while the Learjet business jet in which he was on board crashed while landing at the Baramati airfield.

The Congress has fielded Akash More, an advocate by profession and son of former MLC Vijayrao More.

While political parties from both the ruling side and the opposition has called for unopposed election, the Congress is expected to take a final call on Thursday, the last date for withdrawal of nominations.

According to the data from the Election Commission, a total of 68 nomination papers were received of which six were rejected, leaving 62 valid candidatures.

Sunetra Pawar filed four sets of nomination papers, Akash More filed one set.

More and some other Congress leaders has said that they will withdraw if the Maharashtra government registers an FIR into the plane crash incident.

The NCP has already launched a campaign in Baramati, the bastion of the Pawar family.

NCP national working president Praful Patel has reached out to Congress president and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge seeking withdrawal of More’s candidature.

However, now the Congress leadership is very upset with the outburst of Parth Pawar, the son of Sunetra Pawar and late Ajit Pawar, over the grand old party.

“We are ready to fight and we will win….they have put up a candidate despite the fact that it has big matured leaders…People will not forget it…Congress will have to face it…this would trigger the downfall of Congress in Maharashtra,” he had said.

In reaction to this, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, however, has said that the Congress need to respect public sentiment. “Public sentiment is with Sunetra Pawar. I expect that the Congress party will value the public sentiment. People want Sunetra Tai to be elected without opposition,” he said.

Maharashtra Congress president Harshavardhan Sapkal, however slammed the Chief Minister. “Fadnavis’ statement that the Baramati by-election should be uncontested, keeping public sentiment in mind is akin to lecturing others while not changing yourself,” he said.

“The real sentiment of the people of Maharashtra, he said, is that doubts surrounding Ajit Pawar’s plane crash—whether it was an accident or sabotage—must be clarified. Fadnavis could have fulfilled his duty by immediately registering an FIR and initiating an investigation into the crash, but he has failed to do so and is instead ignoring the issue,” he added.