Only Ajit Pawar in Pune dist has won in state polls by over 1L margin since 1951

Pune: NCP's Ajit Pawar is the only candidate in the history of assembly elections in Pune district since 1951 to win a seat by more than one lakh votes as per District Information Office data. This time, the deputy chief minister who has been pitted against his nephew Yugendra Pawar in Baramati, expressed confidence of winning by a similar margin. The feat was not achieved even by his uncle Sharad Pawar.

The NCP (SCP) chief's best win was in 1990 from Baramati by a margin of 88,000 votes. Among candidates who won by 50,000 and more votes, Pune district has 11 candidates bagging the feat, with Ajit Pawar recording it on five occasions. Senior political consultant Seema Rao said, "While there are incidences of high margin voting, the BJP's Anna Joshi won by just 111 votes in one election.



However, Ajit Pawar's records were at a time when the entire constituency, party workers, party leaders, and the family were with him. Now, it is going to be a litmus test, as we all wait for the results." Ajit Pawar's feat of winning by a record 1.

65 lakh votes was recorded not too long ago. In the 2019 assembly election, he bagged 1.95 lakh votes while his opponent, the BJP's Gopichand Padalkar, garnered only 30,000 votes.

From 1951 to 2019, 11 legislators in the district won by more than 50,000 votes, including six in the 2014 general elections, with four from the BJP benefiting from the Modi wave. Of these 11, four are from the NCP (undivided), two from the Congress, and five from the BJP. Only twice has a lead of over one lakh votes been achieved, both times by Ajit Pawar.

A senior NCP (SCP) leader from the city said that Ajit Pawar was being overambitious this time. "When he won by huge margins, he had the entire party campaigning day and night for him. Now, the situation is different.

The people of Baramati are with a young leader, and they are looking for change, and these numbers will change forever." In the 2009 election, Ajit Pawar secured a lead of 1,02,797 votes in Baramati constituency , defeating independent candidate Ranjan Taware. That election, he polled 1,28,544 votes (68.

26%), while Taware got 25,747 votes (13.67%). Thus, only Ajit Pawar got a lead of over one lakh votes.

Sharad Pawar was the first in the district to garner more than one lakh votes, but a smaller voter base denied him a huge victory margin. He holds the first position among candidates to lead by over 50,000 votes. In 1990, contesting on a Congress ticket, he defeated independent Marutrao Chopde by 88,223 votes.

Pawar was the first in the district to receive over one lakh votes, totalling 1,02,066, while Chopde got only 13,843 votes. Two NCP candidates in 2014 wave The 2014 assembly election was good for six candidates in the district. In the Modi wave, four BJP and two NCP (undivided) candidates secured leads of over 50,000 votes.

They were Ajit Pawar from Baramati and Dilip Walse Patil from Ambegaon who defeated Shiv Sena's Arun Gire by 58,154 votes. Walse Patil received 1,20,235 votes, while Gire polled 62,081 votes. Three in Pune city In Pune city, only three candidates secured a lead of 50,000 votes in 2014, all from the BJP, influenced by the Modi wave.

This included Kothrud, Parvati and Khadakwasla seats and Chinchwad constituency in Pimpri Chinchwad. In Kothrud, BJP's Medha Kulkarni defeated Shiv Sena's Chandrakant Mokate by 64,662 votes when she polled 1,00,941 votes and Mokate received 36,279 votes. In Khadakwasla, Bhimrao Tapkir defeated NCP's Dilip Barate by 63,026 votes, polling 1,11,531 votes, while Barate received 48,505 votes.

In Parvati, Madhuri Misal defeated Sachin Taware by 69,090 votes. She polled 95,583 votes and Taware got 26,493 votes. Two more in Chinchwad, Bhosari In Chinchwad constituency, BJP's Laxman Jagtap defeated Shiv Sena's Rahul Kalate by 60,297 votes in 2014.

He received 1,23,786 votes, while Kalate received 63,489 votes. In 2019, Mahesh Landge from Bhosari constituency defeated his relative, independent candidate Vilas Lande, by 77,567 votes. Landge got 1,59,295 votes, while Lande received 81,728 votes.

In 2019, Sunil Shelke of Maval constituency, fighting on an NCP (undivided) ticket, defeated BJP's Sanjay Bhegde by 93,942 votes. Shelke received 1,67,712 votes, while Bhegde received 73,770 votes. Subhash Kul from Daund, on a Congress ticket, secured the third-largest lead, defeating BJP's Tanaji Divekar by 92,670 votes.

Divekar polled 29,244 votes. Box Dy CM polled over 50k votes five times He is included five times among the 11 legislators who secured leads of over 50,000 votes in the elections of 1995, 1999, 2009, 2014, and 2019 In 2014, he polled a lead of 89,791 votes, securing 1,50,588 votes (65.98%) on an NCP (undivided) ticket, while his BJP rival Balasaheb Gawde received 60,797 votes (26.

64%) In 1995, contesting on a Congress ticket, he defeated independent Ratan Kakade by 77,281 votes, receiving 91,493 votes (71.91%), while Kakade received 14,158 votes (11.13%) In 1999, he received 50,366 more votes than his independent rival Chandrarao Taware.

Ajit Pawar received 86,507 votes and Taware polled 36,141 votes.