The bypoll to the Baramati assembly constituency in Maharashtra due to the death of NCP leader Ajit Pawar will be held on April 23, the Election Commission of India announced on Sunday. The NCP has already finalised Ajit’s wife Sunetra Pawar, who took over as deputy CM after his death, as its candidate for the Baramati by-election.
Also in Maharashtra, the Rahuri assembly segment will see a bypoll on the same date, necessitated by the death of BJP MLA Shivaji Kardile.
Results will be out on counting day, May 4.
These announcements came as the EC held a presser in New Delhi to announce dates for elections in four states — Kerala, West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu — and the UT of Puducherry.
Check full schedule | Election dates for 4 states, 1 UT
Ajit Pawar, who won the constituency a record eight times, died in a plane crash on January 28. Sunetra Pawar is currently neither an MLA nor an MLC, and is constitutionally required to secure a seat in the state legislature within six months of being sworn in as deputy CM.
There is a possibility she could be elected unopposed, as the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi has allotted the Baramati seat to the NCP(SP), and the Sharad Pawar-led party may choose not to field a candidate against her.
Simultaneously, Sunetra-led NCP has finalised her son Parth Pawar’s nomination to the Rajya Sabha; he will effectively replace his mother in the Upper House as Sunetra vacates her Rajya Sabha seat to contest the assembly bypoll.
Sunetra Pawar was alected unanimously as the NCP’s national president, gradually stepping into the roles previously held by her late husband.
As for the Rahuri bypoll, BJP MLA Shivaji Kardile, who represented the constituency in Maharashtra’s Ahilyanagar district, had passed away following a heart attack in October last year.
The BJP leader, survived by his wife, a son and daughters, had been suffering from a spinal ailment for an extended period and had largely withdrawn from public life for over a year, party sources told HT.
