Advantage Ajit Pawar but close fight, says Baramati 

A group of men sitting outside another polling station said the election was difficult to predict. “Who can say who will win? It is a wrestling match and anyone can win it,” said one of them. Another joined the discussion and said, “Ghadyal (clock, NCP Ajit Pawar’s election symbol) will win for sure.”

A victory for Ajit Pawar, or a result difficult to predict, is what most people told The Indian Express about the hotly contested seat.

With undisputed domination, the Pawar family has won Baramati in every election since 1967. Sharad Pawar held the seat from 1967 to 1991, after which Ajit Pawar took over. Now, in a battle of prestige within the family, Ajit is contesting to defend the seat against nephew Yugendra Pawar.

Ajit split with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) last year, taking away most of Sharad Pawar’s MLAs. He joined the ruling BJP–Sena alliance and took on the mantle of Deputy Chief Minister along with Devenda Fadanvis.

However, in the Lok Sabha election held six months ago, Sharad Pawar reasserted his dominance. The NCP (S-P) won eight seats while Ajit’s faction managed only one. The Baramati Lok Sabha saw a similar family battle then, with Ajit fielding his wife Sunetra against cousin and sitting MP Supriya Sule. Sule won by a comfortable margin, which led to Ajit declaring many a time after the result that pitting family against family was a mistake. The result on Sunday will reveal how this second family battle will pan out.