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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

Another battle between Pawars on card

Jay desires to contest election in 2029; Rohit reacts strongly Mumbai: Barely had the voting for Baramati Assembly by-election ended, a potential ‘Pawar versus Pawar’ battle in 2029 spooked the immediate contest in which Nationalist Congress Party President and Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra A. Pawar is the prime contender. The by-poll itself – compelled by the demise of former NCP chief and ex-Dy.CM Ajit A. Pawar in January – witnessed a large turnout after an emotionally-charged campaign in...

Another battle between Pawars on card

Jay desires to contest election in 2029; Rohit reacts strongly Mumbai:  Barely had the voting for Baramati Assembly by-election ended, a potential ‘Pawar versus Pawar’ battle in 2029 spooked the immediate contest in which Nationalist Congress Party President and Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra A. Pawar is the prime contender. The by-poll itself – compelled by the demise of former NCP chief and ex-Dy.CM A jit A. Pawar in January – witnessed a large turnout after an emotionally-charged campaign in which even bigwigs from the Nationalist Congress Party (SP) participated. As the voting progressed, certain remarks from both NCP (SP) MLA Rohit R. Pawar and his cousin Jay A. Pawar, son of Sunetra, indicated that the future of Baramati politics would remain family-dominated, at least till the next Assembly elections in 2029. Accompanying his mom to the polling centre, Jay claimed that pressure was mounting on him from the commoners and NCP workers urging him to contest the Baramati elections after 3 years. People’s Desire “It’s the demand from the party activists and the desire of the people that I should be a candidate in 2029. But from my heart, I wish to continue working as an ordinary party worker and serve everyone,” said Jay, hinting that he would be a reluctant contestant while sparking a mini-row. Predicting a record voter turnout and a victory margin for his mother, he appealed to the voters to support Sunetra as enthusiastically as they had supported his father, the late Ajit Pawar in the past. Quickly reacting to Jay’s utterances, Rohit also hinted at the likelihood of a face-off between family members in the next Assembly polls. “We should heed the sentiments of the party workers and the people… Their party (NCP) is different from our (NCP-SP) party,” Rohit said, making it clear that political loyalties would remain separate despite close family ties. Yugendra vs Jay In the eventuality of Jay being fielded by the NCP in 2029, Rohit suggested that another cousin, Yugendra S. Pawar – son of Shrinivas A. Pawar, and nephew of Ajit Pawar – could be a prospective rival from the NCP (SP) – making it another ‘Pawar versus Pawar’ poll duel. Baramati Assembly and Lok Sabha seats have in the past witnessed politically charged electoral battles between different family members of the Pawar clan, he reminded. Nevertheless, Rohit also admitted how the masses frowned at such intra-family contests – as in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections - which divided virtually all families in Baramati while Sunetra Pawar and her ‘nanad’ Supriya Sule slugged it out at the hustings. “It is not the desire of the people to see another ‘Pawar versus Pawar’ fight… There are certain political forces opposed to the Pawar Family which seem keen to foment such divisive contests and weaken its influence here,” Rohit declared. Keeping the door ajar for a reconciliation between the NCP(SP)-NCP, he said it would be opposed, but the views of the workers, elected representatives and family members tend to complicate the issues, as ‘withdrawing from power’ is not an easy option – making it clear that both the parties would function independently at least for the present. Shrinivas Pawar reprimands cousins The statements by the cousins Jay and Rohit evoked sharp response from Shrinivas A. Pawar who pulled them up for raising decisive yet divisive futuristic issues during the polling today. “What was the need to say all this now? Today is important and everyone has come out for ‘Dada’ (Ajit A. Pawar)… We must all remain united,” emphasised Shrinivas A. Pawar. Chiding the younger cousin-siblings, Shrinivas said that “if you are aware that people don’t prefer such intra-family contests, why don’t you sit together and resolve these issues”. Baramati, Rahuri see 50 pc voting Bypoll to the Baramati assembly seat in Maharashtra's Pune district, where Deputy Chief Minister and NCP president Sunetra Pawar was in the fray, recorded a voter turnout of around 50 per cent till 5 pm on Thursday, officials said. The voting percentage in Rahuri assembly constituency in Ahilyanagar district, which also saw a bypoll, was 50.74 per cent, they said. Voting, which began at 7 am, concluded at 6 pm. The Rahuri assembly seat became vacant after BJP MLA Shivaji Kardile's death in October last year. His son Akshay Kardile was in the fray as a BJP candidate from the seat, and was pitted against NCP (SP) candidate Govind Mokate and Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi's Santosh Chalke.

Race for lone MVA seat intensifies

BJP finalises strategy with four seats

Mumbai: The upcoming Maharashtra Legislative Council elections have exposed clear fault lines within the opposition Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi. Based on its current numerical strength in the state assembly, the opposition alliance is likely to secure only one seat. This bleak reality has triggered a fierce tussle between the Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Congress over the single nomination.


The Shiv Sena (UBT) is staking a firm claim on the seat as one of the members who are scheduled to retire on May 13 includes party chief Uddhav Thackeray. The party also argues that it possesses the highest number of legislators within the alliance and hence the seat is rightfully theirs. However, the Congress is aggressively pushing its own aspirants. Congress leaders are heavily citing their recent political sacrifices. They argue that the party compromised during the recent Rajya Sabha elections and deserves immediate compensation.


This internal rivalry grew more complicated following a crucial meeting on Thursday. State Congress President Harshawardhan Sapkal, who called on Uddhav Thackeray to discuss the political math, later informed the media that the Congress would fully support Thackeray if he chose to contest the election himself. However, he attached a significant rider to this offer. Sapkal declared that if Thackeray opts out of the race, the coveted seat must be surrendered to the Congress. This conditional support has left the MVA leadership in a difficult position.


Meanwhile, NCP (SP) too has mounted pressure for Uddhav Thackeray’s candidature at the legislative Council election. “Uddhavji is a senior and experienced leader in the state. We are all confident that his experience will consistently benefit both the state and the legislative House. It is our humble request that Uddhavji considers this proposal positively,” she said in her post on micro blogging site X while advocating party’s stance.


Interestingly, senior Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar too advocated Uddhav Thackeray’s candidature. “If former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray decides to contest for this seat, he will be welcomed. However, if he is not going to contest, there will have to be a discussion regarding who the MVA candidate will be,” Wadettiwar wrote on X.


Probable Candidates

While the opposition struggles over a single seat, the ruling Mahayuti alliance is moving forward confidently. The BJP plans to contest four of the nine biennial seats. They will also field a candidate for a separate bypoll. This bypoll was necessitated after Congress leader Pradnya Satav resigned and joined the BJP. The state BJP core committee, chaired by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, met on Wednesday night to finalise this strategy. The committee discussed probable candidates and will soon send a shortlist to the central leadership for approval.


Nine members of the Legislative Council are scheduled to retire on May 13. Prominent figures among the retiring legislators include Uddhav Thackeray and Deputy Chairperson Neelam Gorhe. Members of the Legislative Assembly form the electoral college for these polls. Given the current assembly arithmetic, the ruling alliance of the BJP, Shiv Sena, and NCP is comfortably positioned. They are expected to sweep up to nine of the ten total seats available across the biennial and bypoll elections.


Quota of 29

Winning a regular biennial seat will require a strict quota of 29 votes. The single bypoll seat demands a much higher threshold of 144 votes. This bypoll quota could potentially rise to 145 if newly elected MLAs from the April 23 Baramati and Rahuri assembly bypolls become eligible to vote.


The Election Commission of India has set a tight schedule for the process. The official notification will be issued on April 23. Candidates must file their nominations by April 30. Scrutiny of the applications will take place on May 2. The deadline for withdrawal of candidature is May 4. Polling is scheduled for May 12. Votes will be counted on the same day at 5 pm, ensuring the entire process concludes just before the May 13 retirements.


Tenure of nine MLAs in the legislative council ending. They are
Uddhav Thackeray - Shiv Sena (UBT)
Neelam Gorhe - Shiv Sena
Shashikant Shinde - NCP (SP)
Amol Mitkari - NCP
Gopichand Padalkar - BJP
Ranjitsinh Mohite-Patil - BJP
Rajesh Rathod - Congress
Pravin Datke - BJP
Ramesh Karad - BJP
Pradnya Satav - Congress (Resigned)

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