Baramati: As the counting of ballots for the Baramati seat concluded, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) was declared the winner by nearly 1 lakh votes. He polled over 170000 votes versus the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar)'s Yugendra Shrinivas Pawar, who polled 81000 votes. Anurag Adinath Khalate of Bharatiya Praja Surajya Paksha took third place with over 2700 votes.
The seat located in western Maharashtra witnessed a battle between Pawars. It is regarded as a stronghold of Ajit, who has been elected to the seat several times during the 1990s. But this is his first win since causing a vertical split in the NCP, which was founded by his uncle, former Maharashtra Chief Minister Sharad Pawar.
There were around 23 candidates in the fray in Baramati, but the real battle was between Ajit and Yugendra. The 33-year-old Yugendra has the support and blessing of Sharad Pawar, who was present when he filed his nomination papers. The 65-year-old Ajit has campaigned vigorously in the constituency, especially after his wife Sunetra Pawar lost the 2024 Lok Sabha polls from the seat to Sharad's daughter Supriya Sule.
Ajit won the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly polls with utmost ease. He had defeated BJP nominee Gopichand Padalkar with a margin of 165265 votes. But this time, it was a different challenge for the Maratha strongman.
