Mumbai: The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led by Sharad Pawar unveiled its first list of 45 candidates on Thursday for the upcoming Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha polls. As expected, the party announced the candidature of Yugendra Pawar, who will take on his uncle and state deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, in the Baramati constituency. However, the Ajit Pawar-led NCP received a jolt as Sameer Bhujbal, nephew of senior party leader Chhagan Bhujbal, resigned from the party to contest the Nandgaon constituency as an independent.
Announcing the candidature of Yugendra Pawar, NCP (SP) state chief Jayant Patil said, “Baramati candidate selection is based on the demand from the local people of Baramati. I had an interaction with them. They have suggested he (Yugendra) is the new face young and educated and can take everyone along. So we thought he would be the best person from our side.”
Yugendra (32) is a member of the third generation of the Pawar clan. He is the son of Ajit Pawar’s younger brother Srinivas Pawar, who sided with uncle Sharad Pawar during the Lok Sabha elections.
Yugendra would be another from the Pawar family after Sharad Pawar, Ajit Pawar, Supriya Sule, Sunetra Pawar and Rohit Pawar to enter politics. Sunetra had lost to Sharad Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule by over 1.5 lakh votes, but was later elected to the Rajya Sabha. Rohit is an MLA from Karjat-Jamkhed in Nagar district. Ajit Pawar’s elder son Parth Pawar had contested the Maval Lok Sabha seat in 2019, but lost by a heavy margin of over two lakh votes to a Shiv Sena candidate.
Baramati Vidhan Sabha seat is considered as a fiefdom for Ajit Pawar as he was re-elected from the assembly constituency for seven times since 1993. In the 2019 Vidhan Sabha polls, Ajit Pawar had defeated his BJP rival by a record margin of over 1,65,000 votes.
Meanwhile, the NCP (SP) list features prominent party figures, including Jayant Patil, Anil Deshmukh, and Rajesh Tope. The party has fielded Jayant Patil from Islampur, alongside notable candidates such as Jitendra Awhad (Mumbra-Kalwa), Anil Deshmukh (Katol), Harshvardhan Patil (Indapur) and Rohit Patil (Tasgaon-Kavthemahankal), son of the late home minister R R Patil, making his electoral debut.
In a setback to the Ajit Pawar-led NCP, Sameer Bhujbal, nephew of prominent party leader Chhagan Bhujbal, resigned from his position as Mumbai president of the faction. As per the information, he has also filed his independent nomination for the Nandgaon constituency in Nashik district.
Sameer had been preparing to contest the upcoming Vidhan Sabha elections from the Nandgaon constituency. However, the Nandgaon seat is currently under the control of the Mahayuti alliance led by Eknath Shinde.
