The Congress backed out Thursday afternoon as a mark of respect for Ajit Pawar, who died after his chartered plane crashed January 28 while trying to land at the Baramati airfield. The seat had been held by Ajit Pawar since the 1991 bypoll – when he won it as a Congress candidate – till he died this year. Before that it was held by his uncle, Sharad Pawar, since 1967. It is part of the larger Baramati district that is widely seen as a Pawar family stronghold.
Earlier in the day Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis called the Congress’ state unit chief, Harshwardhan Sapkal, to ask him to stand down his party’s candidate. The Congress had nominated Akash More for the bypoll. Similar appeals came from leaders from the NCP group led by Sharad Pawar, including the party’s acting chief Supriya Sule and Sharad Pawar’s grandnephew, Rohit Pawar. Sources also said Sunetra Pawar herself, who has also taken over her late husband’s post as Deputy Chief Minister, spoke directly to Sakpal to stress Ajit Pawar’s relationship with the Congress. A host of other senior Maharashtra politicians – including the NCP’s Chhagan Bhujbal and Dhananjay Munde – also spoke to the Congress on this, pointing out Ajit Pawar had earlier been allied with the opposition party and even fought elections as its member (in 1991 and 1995). “We fielded our candidate only to show our ideological differences with the BJP-led Mahayuti,” the Maharashtra Congress chief said, “Ajit Pawar’s loss has hurt many of us.”