Sule banks on voter connect, past work to emerge winner

Locked in a bitter electoral battle with a close family member in the Baramati Lok Sabha seat, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) candidate and sitting MP Supriya Sule on Thursday exuded confidence about winning this time too due to her past work and development she has brought to the western Maharashtra constituency.

Sule, the daughter of NCP (SP) president Sharad Pawar, noted voters of Baramati in Pune district will choose her based on electoral merit, parliamentary performance and development push in the pocket borough of the Pawars, where polling will be held on May 7 in the third phase of elections.

The three-time Lok Sabha MP from the seat is pitted against her sister-in-law Sunetra Pawar, the NCP candidate and wife of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, making it perhaps the most watched poll battle in Maharashtra.

Sule, while campaigning in the Purandar assembly segment of the constituency, visited villages, temples, reached out to voters, clicked selfies with them and participated in a 'padyatra' (foot march) in Jejuri, a temple town.