Sugar mill poll underway in Pune; rival NCP factions battle it out for control

Pune, Jun 22 (PTI) Election was being held on Sunday to Baramati's Malegaon Cooperative Sugar Mill where Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar is contesting for the chairperson's post, while the rival NCP (SP) led by Sharad Pawar has also entered the fray.

Ajit Pawar is among the 90 candidates, contesting the poll under the banner of different panels and not on party tickets, for the 21-member board of directors of the sugar mill located in Baramati. Only members of the mill are eligible to vote.

The Nilkantheshwar panel headed by Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Ajit Pawar, who is contesting a cooperative sugar mill election after more than four decades, currently holds power in the mill.

Results will be declared on June 24.

Besides the Nilkantheshwar panel and the Ranjan Tawre-led Sahakar Bachav, the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) has entered the fray after floating the ‘Baliraja Sahakar Bachav’ panel, making the contest triangular. Sharad Pawar is not directly in the fray.

Ajit Pawar cast his vote on Sunday morning in Pune's Baramati and expressed hope that the people will vote for development.

"This is an election conducted through a democratic process. Voters have the right to choose their representative. It is the voters who will decide who will bring development. I am a candidate for the chairman's post. I have been working here for 35 years," Ajit Pawar told reporters after casting his vote.

Earlier, the functioning of the Pune District Central Cooperative Bank, of whose Ajit Pawar is chairman, on Wednesday night led to a controversy, with supporters of the Sahakar Bachav and Baliraja panels alleging a voter list was found inside the bank.

NCP (SP) MP and Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule had demanded probe by a special investigation team (SIT) into the incident.

Asked about it, Ajit Pawar, who is the nephew of Sharad Pawar, said he need not reply to anybody's random demands.

"Since the code of conduct has been enforced, the Sharad Sankul (referring to the office of the Sharad Pawar-backed panel) is open but I don't want to drag that issue. Even if you go there today, you will see people sitting," the deputy CM said.

"As per rules, nobody is allowed to sit there and prepare a list for the polls. Ajit Pawar will not decide the vote margin, voters will," he added.

Before the 2023 split in the NCP, only one panel (Nilkantheshwar) represented the Pawar family on the board of the sugar mill.

Speaking to reporters after recently addressing the voters, Sharad Pawar had said if people associated with the NCP (SP) had been taken along (by the Ajit Pawar-backed ruling panel), there would have been no need for his party to float a rival panel for the polls.

The senior Pawar asserted that he does not see the disagreement as a long-term issue (between rival NCP groups).

“It is limited to this particular election, which involves only 19,000 voters — members of the mill who are eligible to vote,” he had said. PTI COR GK