Baramati is one of the keenly watched Lok Sabha seats in the country. According to the Election Commission of India (ECI) website, NCP (SP) candidate Supriya Sule is leading by just 343 votes over NCP nominee Sunetra Pawar as per the 10am update. Currently, Sule has 10,063 votes while Pawar has 9,720.
Baramati recorded a 56.1% voter turnout, nearly 6% lower than that in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The fiercely fought battle between Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) founder Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's wife Sunetra Pawar was keenly watched from all over the country.
2019 polls
Notably, Supriya Sule has won from this constituency for three consecutive terms. Sule, who is eyeing a fourth term from Baramati, registered a victory here after defeating BJP candidate Kanchan Rahul Kul in 2019. In the 2014 polls, Sule had clinched victory for the second time, maintaining the Pawar family's stronghold despite the Prime Minister Narendra Modi wave sweeping across the country. Supriya Sule secured 5,21,562 votes, accounting for 48.90 per cent of the votes.
Baramati is seen as the most riveting contest, where Sharad Pawar's daughter and sitting NCP (SP) MP Supriya Sule was pitted against her sister-in-law Sunetra Pawar, wife of Ajit Pawar, who last year engineered a split in the Nationalist Congress Party founded by his uncle.
Who is Sunetra Pawar?
Sunetra Pawar, the founder of the Environmental Forum of India, established in 2010, also holds the position of trustee for the well-regarded indigenous educational institution, Vidya Prathishthan.
Since 2011, she has served as a Think Tank member for the World Entrepreneurship Forum in France. Notably, her brother is Padamsinh Patil, a senior politician and former minister. In contrast, Supriya Sule has consecutively represented the constituency since 2009 and previously served as a Rajya Sabha member from 2006 to 2009.