Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar was elected to the 21-member board of the Malegaon Cooperative Sugar Mill in Baramati on Tuesday, securing 91 out of 101 votes in the closely watched election held on June 22.
This marks Pawar’s first contest in a sugar mill election since 1984, when he was elected to the board of the Chhatrapati Cooperative Sugar Mill.
The Malegaon Sugar Mill has more than 19,000 sugarcane-producing shareholders.
Pawar had filed his nomination from Group B, and had made it clear during the campaign. where he addressed over ten public meetings, that he would assume the role of board chairman if his Nilkantheshwar panel, supported by his faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), emerged victorious.
Pawar’s result was among the first to be declared, as only 101 votes, all from Group B voters representing various cooperative bodies, needed to be counted. In contrast, the remaining seats on the board will take longer to be announced due to the large number of voters: 19,651 in total, of which 19,549 belong to Group A, comprising local sugarcane cultivators.
The election saw 90 candidates vying for 21 positions, with four panels in the fray. Ajit Pawar led the Nilkantheshwar panel, while the Baliraja panel was backed by the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar faction). The Sahakar Bachav panel was headed by veteran cooperative leader Shankar Taware, while a fourth group consisted of independents and farmers’ representatives.
