Supriya Sule, sister-in-law Sunetra Pawar file nominations for Baramati Lok Sabha seat

Pune: Three-term Lok Sabha member Supriya Sule and her sister-in-law Sunetra Pawar on Thursday filed their nominations for the Baramati Lok Sabha seat in Maharashtra’s Pune district on the NCP (SP) and NCP tickets, respectively.

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, husband of Sunetra Pawar, also filed a set nomination papers for the seat, which an NCP functionary described as a back-up plan in case Sunetra Pawar’s nomination does not stand scrutiny or any discrepancy is found in it.

Polling in Baramati, the pocket borough of Pawars, will be held on May 7. Congress leaders Balasaheb Thorat and Vishwajeet Kadam, among others, accompanied Sule, the sitting MP from Baramati and daughter of NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar, as she filed the nomination papers before the returning officer at the Council Hall in Pune. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis and NCP leader Praful Patel were present when Sunetra Pawar, who is making her poll debut, filed her nomination at the Council Hall later in the day.

Addressing a rally after Sule filed her nomination, Sharad Pawar said the BJP government at the Centre had deceived citizens for the past 10 years and and had failed to mitigate problems like inflation, unemployment, farm distress and atrocities against women.

“There is a significant disparity between the promises made 10 years ago on these issues and the current reality,” the NCP(SP) chief said.

When Narendra Modi became prime minister in 2014, the price of petrol was Rs 71 per litre and he had promised to reduce it in 50 days.