Sunetra Pawar seeks Congress support for Baramati bypoll, party firm on contesting

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and NCP president Sunetra Pawar has sought Congress support for an unopposed Baramati assembly bypoll. The Congress appears firm on contesting the seat and fielding its own candidate.

On Sunday, Sunetra Pawar dialled Maharashtra Congress chief Harshwardhan Sapkal and urged him to ensure an unopposed by-election in the Baramati assembly segment, which she is contesting. However, as per the news agency PTI that the Congress is in no mood to support her demand and that a candidate will file nomination papers on the last day of submission on Monday.

The Congress party is preparing to field Akash More for the by-election. A Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) Secretary and son of former MLC Vijay Rao More, More had previously contested the seat in 2014. Representing the Dhangar community, he is a leading contender alongside Youth Congress leader Vaibhav Gurunghale, who also belongs to the Dhangar community, which is dominant in the Baramati constituency.

Other frontrunners include Advocate Rohit Bankar and Dr Archana Patil, a radiologist from Baramati.

A day earlier, Sunetra Pawar had also reached out to Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, seeking his support for the April 23 by-election. Thackeray, whose party is part of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi, has not yet clarified the Sena (UBT)’s stand on her appeal.

The bypoll was necessitated due to the death of Sunetra Pawar’s husband and then Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in a plane crash in January. The opposition NCP (Sharad Pawar) faction has already announced that it will not contest the by-election as a mark of respect for the late leader, who represented the Baramati segment.

Currently, a Rajya Sabha member, Sunetra Pawar, is set to file her nomination papers on Monday. Sources said that Harshwardhan Sapkal will be present in Baramati, in Pune district, during the filing of nomination by a Congress candidate.

Ajit Pawar was an eight-time MLA from Baramati. In the 2019 assembly election, he had won the seat by a margin of 1.65 lakh votes. In 2024, he retained the seat by a margin of more than one lakh votes, defeating his nephew Yugendra Pawar.

Meanwhile, Congress sources indicated that the party is also willing to contest the upcoming bypoll for the Rahuri assembly constituency in Ahilyanagar district if its ally, NCP (Sharad Pawar), decides not to field a candidate. Govindrao Mokate is likely to be the Congress candidate from Rahuri in such a scenario.

The Rahuri seat fell vacant after the death of BJP legislator Shivaji Kardile.

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