Malegaon sugar mill election: Ajit Pawar wins; his panel registers landslide victory in Baramati

The election for the Malegaon Cooperative Sugar Mill has been the talk of the town — and the state — as Ajit took on his estranged uncle and cousin. Taware, who has long fought what he calls the “hegemony of the Pawars” in Baramati, had fielded his panel comprising local farmers. While both the Pawars were on opposite ends of the electoral battle, the Tawares are BJP supporters, which did not deter Ajit from standing against the Tawares or declaring that he would be the chairman if he were elected.

The counting for the 21 seats started on Tuesday morning, but got off to a slow start due to extensive cross-voting between panels. Counting was halted for the night and restarted on Wednesday morning. While Ajit won his seat with a thumping majority, his panel won 20 seats, including those reserved for women, Other Backward Classes and other categories. Taware’s panel was leadinng in four seats but failed to preserve them. Rajan Taware, the former chairman of the mill, was lost as counting continued, and Chandanrao was the only successful candidate of the panel.

Voting for cooperative bodies is carried out using ballot papers, which are then counted manually. Trends showed over 19,000 voters have voted across panels, which slowed down the counting process.

It is the first time Ajit had contested a cooperative election since 1984, when he fought for chairmanship of the Chhatrapati Cooperative Sugar Mill in Indapur. Pawar had taken personal interest and mobilised his entire machinery for the elections. His men had personally moved on ground and even ministers were seen campaigning for the other wise non descriptive elections. With this win Ajit has now managed to trump over his uncle right in their backyard.