Days after losing Baramati, NCP sends Sunetra Pawar to Rajya Sabha

She was the only candidate who filed her nomination on Thursday, which happens to be the last day for filing nominations. Had there been an election, all existing members of the legislative assembly would have voted for the Rajya Sabha seat

Mumbai: Sunetra Pawar, wife of deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, was nominated by the Nationalist Congress Party for a vacant Rajya Sabha seat on Thursday. The development is likely to ruffle many feathers within the party, including senior NCP leader and minister Chhagan Bhujbal who was upset after not being considered for the position but denied it later.

Mumbai, India - June 13, 2024: Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar’s wife Sunetra Pawar along with her party worker and leaders outside vidhan bhavan, after filling her nomination as the NCP’s candidate for the Rajya Sabha polls scheduled on June 25, in Mumbai, India, on Thursday, June 13, 2024. (Photo by Anshuman Poyrekar/ Hindustan Times) (Hindustan Times)

Sunetra contested the Lok Sabha election from the Baramati constituency and lost to sitting MP and NCP (SP) candidate Supriya Sule by a margin of 1.58 lakh votes.

Her name was finalised by the party’s senior leaders in a meeting held on Wednesday evening at Devgiri, the official residence of Ajit Pawar who heads the party.

A Rajya Sabha seat earlier held by Praful Patel fell vacant as he contested for the Rajya Sabha election in February as the party was unable to decide a name for the berth then.

She was the only candidate who filed her nomination on Thursday, which happens to be the last day for filing nominations. Had there been an election, all existing members of the legislative assembly would have voted for the Rajya Sabha seat. Since the ruling alliance has a clear majority, the opposition MVA chose not to contest the by-election.

After scrutinising her nomination, Sunetra will be declared unopposed by Saturday, a senior official from the state legislature said. She was accompanied by senior NCP leaders as she filed papers at Vidhan Bhavan. None of the leaders from the party’s allies — Shiv Sena and BJP — were present.

With Sunetra’s election, NCP will have two members in the upper house of parliament, Patel being the other MP.

“I express gratitude to the party leadership for showing confidence in me… I will try to make optimum use of the opportunity given to me,” Sunetra told reporters after filing her nomination.

There were several aspirants in the party for the Rajya Sabha seat. Even Parth Pawar, the elder son of the deputy chief minister, was keen on contesting the elections and had a meeting with NCP working president Praful Patel and state president Sunil Tatkare at the party office two days ago where he pushed for his candidature.

On the other hand, Bhujbal himself was interested in contesting the polls and insiders said that he was upset after not being considered for the position. However, he later denied it. “I am not upset. I was keen on contesting the elections but the decision was taken unanimously,” Bhujbal clarified, who was also present for filing Sunetra’s nomination.

The Election Commission (ECI) declared an election for the Rajya Sabha seat vacated by Patel in February. The new Rajya Sabha was supposed to be elected by the MLAs and NCP has all the strength to win the seat with the help of two ruling allies — BJP and Shiv Sena.