Pune: Dy CM and NCP chief Ajit Pawar, contesting a cooperative sugar mill election after 1984, comfortably won his seat in the Malegaon Cooperative Sugar Mill election in Baramati held on Sunday. The rest of the results were still coming at the time of going to press late on Tuesday.
This poll, the first after the NCP split, is important for Ajit Pawar to tighten his grip on the state's cooperative sector.
The Dy CM entered the fray as one of the 21 candidates of his panel which faced a tough challenge from two other panels, one backed by his uncle and veteran politician Sharad Pawar's NCP (SP), and the other supported by his political rivals Chandrarao Taware and Ranjan Taware.
In the 21-member board, Ajit Pawar contested from group B, where he secured 91 of the 101 votes cast. Counting for the remaining 20 seats was going on and election officials said the final results were likely by early Wednesday.
Malegaon sugar mill is politically important as it is in Baramati and the stronghold of the Pawar family. Though there is a challenge from the Taware family, Sharad Pawar has kept his hold on the mill.
When he concentrated on national politics, Pawar gave the responsibility to his nephew to maintain the family's dominance in Baramati and the state's politics.
Close associates said Ajit Pawar had been calling the shots on behalf of the Pawar family and the NCP in the sugar mill elections. However, after the NCP split in 2023, both he and his uncle want to exert their sway over Baramati. "The Malegaon sugar mill contest is part of the same tussle between the two NCP factions," one of them said.
According to both NCP factions, a discussion on an alliance was held, but the seat-sharing formula did not materialise. Hence, both factions set up their panels of candidates for the poll.
Ajit Pawar on Tuesday told reporters in Mumbai, "We did not discuss with senior members on the other side. There were two to three rounds of talks with the local office-bearers, but I will not divulge those details."
In another development, former MLA of Shiv Sena (UBT) Mahadev Babar joined the NCP at an event in Mumbai. Babar was keen on contesting the Hadapsar assembly seat in the 2024 assembly election but has been upset ever since the seat went to Sharad Pawar's NCP in MVA's formula.
