Polling was conducted on Sunday for the Malegaon Cooperative Sugar Mill election to Baramati, with Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar running for the position of chairperson.
There was a direct confrontation between two groups of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) — Ajit Pawar's group and party founder Sharad Pawar's group.
Ajit Pawar is one of 90 contestants for the 21-member board of directors of the sugar mill. Contestants are contesting on behalf of different panels and not political parties, since the elections are not party-line based.
The only people eligible to vote are registered members of the cooperative mill.
The influential Nilkantheshwar panel, headed by Ajit Pawar, is in power at the sugar mill and has been a reigning authority in cooperative politics in Baramati.
The deputy CM, who is fighting a cooperative election for the first time in more than four decades, cast his vote during early morning hours and expressed hope that voters would acclaim development-oriented leadership.
This is a democratic process. It is for the people to decide who will usher progress. I have worked here for 35 years and I am fighting for the chairperson's seat," Ajit Pawar said after casting his vote.
The race this time has turned triangular with the entry of Sharad Pawar's NCP-backed Baliraja Sahakar Bachav panel. The other prominent challenger is Sahakar Bachav panel headed by Ranjan Tawre.
Sharad Pawar himself is not in the fray but has been actively campaigning in favor of his panel.
Prior to the 2023 NCP split, only the Nilkantheshwar panel, which spoke for the Pawar family united, had dominated the board of the mill. After the split, loyalists of Sharad Pawar decided to put in their own candidates.
Sharad Pawar had previously clarified that the split was temporary for this election and must not be considered a permanent political fault line.
"If people from our party, who were close to us, had been brought along, there would have been no need to opt for a separate panel," he said in a press conference after a voter outreach.
The poll has not been controversy-free. A row broke out last Wednesday evening over so-called irregularities when a voter list was said to have been found within the Pune District Central Cooperative Bank, which is headed by Ajit Pawar.
Members of the Sahakar Bachav and Baliraja panels accused the ruling party of wrongdoing.
Sharad Pawar's daughter and NCP (SP) MP Supriya Sule called for an investigation by a special investigation team (SIT) into the issue.
Defending himself on being asked to reply, Ajit Pawar rejected the charges. "I do not have to reply to random requests. The code of conduct is already there, but the office of Sharad Sankul continues to function. I don't wish to make a point of it, but that is also against the rules," he stated.
"Ajit Pawar won't determine the margin of votes; voters will."
The results of the elections will be declared on 24 June.
The battle, in which an estimated 19,000 registered voters are pitted, is being watched keenly as a strength test between the two sides of the Pawar clan, who have ruled Mumbai region's cooperative sector politics for years.
Follow us
