Even outside a polling booth at Baramati in Pune district on Wednesday, violence erupted when Sharmila Pawar, mother of NCP (SP) candidate Yugendra Pawar, alleged that workers of a rival NCP faction were threatening to kill her son and his supporters. The other faction of the party, led by incumbent MLA and deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra Ajit Pawar refuted such claims.
Addressing the mediapersons, Sharmila Pawar alleged that her party employees were threatened, and the voter slips affixed with the logo of the Ajit Pawar camp were distributed around the polling center. ”When I got details about the menace, I headed to the scene and found some voter slips with the party’s symbol being given out. We were receiving intimidations about our people and even threats of our lives being endangered,” she stated. Sharmila Pawar revealed that she would to go to the Election Commission over the incident.
Yugendra Pawar, a grand nephew of NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar, is in a direct electoral battle with his uncle Ajit Pawar in Baramati. The race has attracted much focus because the Pawar family has been controlling the seat for many years, and NCP has recently split into factions.
On the allegation, Kiran Gujar, election-in charge for Ajit Pawar’s faction, said that there is no permit for Sharmila Pawar to enter the polling booth. Using such a mentality, if voter slips with our party’s symbol were being circulated unlawfully, the election officer could not have remained quiet. This kind of an accusation, which is completely unfounded, intends to defame the system,” Gujar said. He also asked Sharmila Pawar to provide proof to substantiate her allegations.
The sitting MP for Baramati since 1991, Ajit Pawar, responded by a flat declaration of the accusations. The four workers at Ife have complied with the election code of conduct. He asked: “These accusations are politically motivated and are not valid in the slightest.” It has turned up the heat in what is already a very keenly contested election.
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