Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar solidified his political control over the Pawar family's bastion of Baramati and the wider Pune district on Sunday, as his faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) secured a resounding victory in the crucial municipal council elections. This civic contest, the first since the dramatic split in the NCP, delivered a clear mandate in his favor.
Decisive Numbers in Baramati and Pune District
The results were unequivocal. In the Baramati municipal council, the Ajit Pawar-led NCP clinched a commanding 35 out of 41 seats, replicating the performance of the undivided NCP in the 2017 polls. The rival NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) or NCP (SP), led by his uncle Sharad Pawar, managed to win only a single seat. The Bahujan Samaj Party and Rashtriya Samaj Paksha won one seat each, while three went to independent candidates. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) failed to open its account.
The dominance extended across Pune district. Ajit Pawar's NCP secured the presidents' posts in 10 out of 17 local bodies. Its allies in the ruling Mahayuti coalition—the Shiv Sena and BJP—won four and three president posts, respectively. In the race for 398 councillor posts, NCP emerged on top with 152 seats, followed by BJP with 88 and Shiv Sena with 55. The opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) was restricted to just 13 seats.
A Family Rivalry and a Strategic Campaign
This election marked the first civic battle in Baramati where members of the Pawar family were directly pitted against each other, following their showdowns in the recent Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. While the polls were framed as a clash between Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar, local leaders indicated the ground fight was between Ajit Pawar and his nephew, Yugendra Pawar, who led the NCP (SP) campaign.
"Neither Sharad Pawar nor Supriya Sule campaigned in Baramati. Yugendra Pawar was the only leader holding meetings and campaigning on the ground, while Ajit Pawar himself addressed rallies and remained actively involved throughout," revealed a senior NCP functionary. Ajit Pawar's faction also successfully captured the mayor's post in Baramati, defeating candidates from both NCP (SP) and BJP.
Mahayuti's Sweep and Alliance Dynamics
Commenting on the victory, Deputy CM Ajit Pawar stated, "The victory in Pune district is the result of the hard work put in by party workers... The results show that not only NCP but also Shiv Sena and BJP won in many seats, which indicates that the people trust Mahayuti." The elections were held after a gap of nearly nine years, with local bodies functioning without elected representatives for almost four years.
Interestingly, the contest in most civic bodies in Pune was primarily among the three Mahayuti partners, with NCP, BJP, and Shiv Sena candidates competing against each other. In some areas, allies faced off through local tie-ups. Talegaon Dabhade was the notable exception where NCP and BJP contested together, with a pre-poll agreement to share the mayoral term for 2.5 years each.
The outcome firmly establishes Ajit Pawar's organizational strength in the region and underscores the challenging road ahead for the Sharad Pawar-led faction in its traditional stronghold.
