Mumbai: Sunetra Pawar, wife of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, is likely to be nominated to Rajya Sabha. A formal announcement will be made on Thursday. She will also file her nomination on Thursday. Ajit Pawar’s son Parth Pawar is also being considered by the NCP. Other NCP aspirants are Chhagan Bhujbal, Baba Siddique and Anand Paranjape. Rajya Sabha by-election was necessitated after NCP Working President Praful Patel resigned, following his re-election to the Upper House of Parliament in February 2024.

NCP national president Ajit Pawar on Wednesday evening held a meeting with top leaders including state president Sunil Tatkare, Chhagan Bhujbal and Dhananjay Munde.

An NCP insider said that Sunetra Pawar and her son Parth Pawar are the front-runners for the Rajya Sabha seat. “After taking into confidence all senior leaders, the party is likely to finalise the name Sunetra Pawar in the meeting,” the NCP insider said.  

Sunetra Pawar was defeated by her sister-in-law and Sharad Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule from the Baramati Lok Sabha seat in the recently held Lok Sabha election. Sule won by a massive margin of 1,58,333 votes. Ms Sule had secured 7,32,312 votes, while Sunetra had received 573,979 votes. Parth Pawar had also tasted defeat from the Maval Lok Sabha seat in 2019 Lok Sabha election. P

Mr. Tatkare said that they would announce their candidate on Thursday morning for Rajya Sabha bypolls.

As per the notification for the Rajya Sabha bypolls, the last day for filing nomination is June 13. The voting for bypolls will also be held on June 25.  

Praful Patel, who had four years of his tenure left from his term, was again nominated for a Rajya Sabha seat in February as he was facing a disqualification petition filed by the Sharad Pawar faction. The byelection is being held for the seat vacated by Patel, which will have only four years of tenure.