Sharad faction alleges coercion, vote buying in Baramati, shares videos
What's the story
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) faction led by Sharad Pawar accused Ajit Pawar's faction of manipulation and bribery, during polling for the Baramati seats on Tuesday. Sharad's NCP released a series of videos on social media platforms alleging threats and intimidation from Ajit's faction. NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) MLA Rohit Pawar also accused Ajit's NCP of distributing money for votes in the Lok Sabha seat and shared a video to back his claim.
On social media
Rohit shares video of alleged manipulation
Another video shared by Rohit showed MLA Dattatray Bharne purportedly hurling abusive threats at party workers aligned with Supriya Sule, who is contesting for her fourth term in the Parliament from Baramati. "Watch in this video how member of Ajitdada Mitra Mandal...abuse and threaten the workers," Rohit wrote in Marathi. Ajit refuted the allegations saying he has never resorted to such methods. "Only those making allegations know such things. They see their defeat," he said.
Twitter Post
Read: Rohit's post here
केवळ दडपशाहीपुढं न झुकता स्वाभिमानाने बुथवर काम करणाऱ्या कार्यकर्त्यांना अजितदादा मित्र मंडळाचे सदस्य, माजी मंत्री आणि इंदापूरचे आमदार हे कशा अर्वाच्च भाषेत शिवीगाळ करतात आणि धमकी देतात ते या व्हिडिओत बघा… विशेष म्हणजे ज्यांच्याशी ते असं वागतात ही त्यांचीच भावकी आणि बारा… pic.twitter.com/5ECFw7EnCx
— Rohit Pawar (@RRPSpeaks) May 7, 2024
Election rivalry
Battle for Baramati
The Baramati constituency is witnessing a fierce competition as NCP (SP)'s Supriya Sule is competing against her cousin and Ajit's wife, Sunetra Pawar, who is making her first attempt at a Lok Sabha election. Commenting on the situation, Sule said, "It's very unfortunate that in a peaceful Maharashtra... this is the first time we are seeing this kind of bad behavior." District collector Dr. Suhas Diwase confirmed that all complaints are being thoroughly investigated.