NCP (Ajit Pawar) picks Sunetra Pawar as its Rajya Sabha nominee

Sunetra recently contested the LS elections from the Baramati constituency, where she faced off against sitting MP and Sharad Pawar's daughter, Supriya Sule

MUMBAI: Sunetra Pawar, the wife of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, filed her nomination as the Nationalist Congress Party's (NCP) candidate for the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls. The party finalised her name in a meeting held on the previous evening.

Sunetra was chosen over several aspirants for the Rajya Sabha berth, including Parth Pawar. (HT)

Sunetra recently contested the Lok Sabha elections from the Baramati constituency, where she faced off against sitting MP and Sharad Pawar's daughter, Supriya Sule, in a high-voltage family battle. She lost to Sule by a margin of 1.58 lakh votes.

"The party has decided to rehabilitate her. It will also help in strengthening the party's position in Baramati after what all has happened in the polls," said an NCP insider, who wished to remain anonymous. "She will also be canvassing for the party chief Ajit Pawar from now on for the upcoming state assembly elections so that he won't get stuck in his own constituency during the poll campaign."

Sule secured a lead of over 47,000 votes over Sunetra Pawar in the Baramati assembly segment, which is represented by Ajit Pawar.

Sunetra was chosen over several aspirants for the Rajya Sabha berth, including Parth Pawar, the elder son of the deputy chief minister, Sameer Bhujbal, and Baba Siddique. Parth even had a meeting with NCP working president Praful Patel and state president Sunil Tatkare at the party office two days ago, where he pushed for his candidature.

The election for the single Rajya Sabha seat is scheduled to be held on June 25. The decision to field Sunetra Pawar is seen as a strategic move by the NCP to strengthen its position in the Baramati region and to ensure that Ajit Pawar can focus on campaigning for the upcoming state assembly elections.