The defeat of Sunetra Pawar, wife of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, from the Baramati seat in the Lok Sabha election is a tight slap on Ajit's face.
His NCP managed to win only one of the four seats that it contested. In two constituencies where the fight was between Ajit's NCP versus Sharad Pawar's NCP, the electoral battle was won by Pawar senior with big margins.
Ajit's close aide and his party president Sunil Tatkare is on his way to win the Raigad Lok Sabha seat defeating his Shiv Sena (UBT) rival Anant Geete. On the other hand, Amol Kolhe of Sharad Pawar-led NCP defeated Shivajirao Adhalrao Patil of Ajit Pawar-led NCP from Shirur constituency.
Supriya Sule defeated her sister-in-law from Baramati by over 1 lakh votes. Even from Baramati assembly segment - represented by Ajit Pawar- Supriya had a lead of over 30,000 votes. This clearly proves that even at the age of 83, Pawar senior clearly knows the pulse of the people far better than his Maharashtra deputy chief minister nephew.
Sharad Pawar-led NCP contested 10 seats and is winning in seven of them resulting in a strike rate of 70 per cent.
Ajit was very confident that since he had managed all elections of Supriya in past, he knew the levers and pulse of people. He also thought that since most of the party leadership in Baramati had moved on to his side, winning Baramati was not all that difficult.
But Supriya Sule had told this correspondent during campaigning that cadre and leaders may have shifted allegiance to Ajit Pawar, however, the people of Baramati still hugely supported Pawar senior. Her sentiments have come true today as she defeated Suntera Pawar by more than a lakh votes.
