Supriya Sule of the Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar is leading in Maharashtra’s Baramati Lok Sabha constituency, data from the Election Commission showed.

Sule is ahead of Sunetra Pawar, the wife of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, by a margin of 91,862 votes, according to Election Commission data as of 8.30 pm. She had secured 5,11,199 of the 10,10,807 votes counted. Sunetra Pawar had secured 4,24,517 of the votes.

Sule, the daughter of former Maharashtra Chief Minister Sharad Pawar, is Ajit Pawar’s cousin.

Sunetra Pawar has been fielded by the Ajit Pawar-led faction of the Nationalist Congress Party.

In July, Ajit Pawar, along with several party MLAs, joined the Mahayuti coalition government comprising the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Shiv Sena faction led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. Ajit Pawar was then made the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra.

The move led to a split in the Nationalist Congress Party, with one faction supporting Sharad Pawar and the other backing Ajit Pawar.

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Sule’s party contested the elections as part of the Opposition INDIA bloc, which also includes the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and the Congress in Maharashtra.

Baramati is a historical stronghold of Sharad Pawar’s family and remains of strategic importance to his party with Assembly polls in Maharashtra due later this year. Baramati has been a bellwether for the undivided party’s overall performance in Maharashtra.

Sule has represented Baramati since 2009 and is among the party’s national working presidents.

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Also read: Maharashtra: Supriya Sule vs Sunetra Pawar in Baramati reflects a larger challenge