Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's wife, Sunetra Pawar, filed her nomination for the Baramati Lok Sabha seat on the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) ticket on Thursday.
Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, and NCP leader Praful Patel were present when Sunetra Pawar, who is making her political debut, filed her nomination at the Council Hall in Pune.
Interestingly, Ajit Pawar himself also filed a nomination for the seat, which an NCP functionary described as a backup plan in case Sunetra Pawar's nomination does not stand scrutiny or any discrepancies are found in it.
Before the filing of her nomination, a campaign rally was held by the ruling Mahayuti constituents - Shiv Sena led by CM Shinde, BJP, and Ajit Pawar-headed NCP.
Addressing the rally, Shinde said a change is inevitable in Baramati and gave the slogan - "Abki baar, Sunetra Pawar". Fadnavis said a new history will be created in Baramati as the "daughter-in-law of Baramati" will go to Delhi.
Sunetra Pawar said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has done tremendous work and the world has taken note of it. "Be it infrastructure, building of roads, Chandrayaan, Modiji has been instrumental in doing tremendous work and that is why he is in the minds of the people," she said.
Union Minister Ramdas Athawale, who heads the Republican Party of India (A) and is a BJP ally, also attended the rally.
