Sunetra Pawar to file nomination on April 6, contest won’t be unopposed in Baramati

NCP leader and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar will file her nomination on April 6 for the bypolls for Baramati constituency to be held on April 23. This is after the seat fell vacant due to the sudden demise of her husband Ajit Pawar in an air crash in January this year. But the high profile contest will not be unopposed. The election will test the unity of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi too, as allies are slated to pitch against each other for the election.

Meanwhile, the Nationalist Congress Party has started its preparation in full swing in Baramati. Two large scale meetings have already been held in the constituency considered to be the bastion of the Pawar family. Sunetra Pawar’s son Jay Pawar will be seen in a more politically active role during these elections. He is already going to hold a review meeting in Baramati on Saturday (April 4, 2026).

Equations in the family bastion

Nationalist Congress Party Sharadchandra Pawar, led by Sunetra Pawar’s political rival and uncle-in-law Sharad Pawar, has already declared that it will not field a candidate against a family member. The Assembly seat was traditionally held for eight consecutive terms by Ajit Pawar. The understanding within the Pawar family till before the last election was that Supriya Sule will hold the fort of the party at the national level and Ajit Pawar will look after state politics. For the first time in 2024 election, after a split within the NCP, the Pawars had pitted family members against one another in the State and national elections.

While Ajit Pawar had fielded Sunetra Pawar for the Lok Sabha election, for a fight against his cousin Supriya Sule; Sharad Pawar had fielded his grandnephew and Ajit Pawar’s nephew Yugendra Pawar to fight against Ajit Pawar in the Assembly elections.

This time, due to a likely sympathy wave for Ajit Pawar’s family, the NCP cadres are confident that the by-election will lead them to a victory.

Not unopposed

But the election will not be unopposed. It will test the unity of the opposition alliance of the Maha Vikas Aghadi. The alliance has already declared its support to Sharad Pawar for a Rajya Sabha seat. But it expects the regional party to fight against its splinter to prove its allegiance to the MVA at a time when both the NCPs have accepted that talks of a merger were going on between both the parties. Neither Congress, nor Shiv Sena UBT are comfortable that NCP SP will not give a candidate against Sunetra Pawar in a constituency considered to be Sharad Pawar’s stronghold.

Maharashtra Congress president Harshawardhan Sapkal has declared that if NCP SP does not fight the bypolls, it will give a candidate in Baramati. It has also started looking at candidates.

When asked about it, Shiv Sena UBT leader Sanjay Raut said, “Two bypolls are going to take place. In Rahuri and in Baramati. We will try that decision should be taken as an alliance. In Rahuri, NCP SP had fought the election earlier. It has its claim there. MVA’s basic tenet is that the party which holds strength in a particular constituency should fight the polls there. In Baramati, after Ajit Pawar’s death, the Pawar family may not contest the polls as family dharma. But they should not oppose others who want to fight the polls there. This is a democracy. We will sit together and decide.”

The bypolls are slated to test MVA’s unity even as the Mahayuti will rally behind Sunetra Pawar for the Baramati bypolls. Ms Pawar, who is the DCM at present, will have to get elected in either House of the legislature within six months of assuming office as the DCM.

On April 6, when she will file her nomination, several senior leaders of the Mahayuti including Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis are slated to accompany her. She will hold a public meeting in Baramati on that day before filing nomination.