The political vacuum left by the sudden death of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar took a decisive turn on Thursday. A January airplane crash killed the veteran leader and triggered an intense succession crisis within the state government. His widow, Sunetra Pawar, was rapidly elevated to the Deputy Chief Minister role and nominated to retain his long-held Baramati Assembly seat.
With just one hour remaining before the 3:00 PM nomination withdrawal deadline, the Congress party officially pulled its candidate out of the upcoming by-election. Akash More stood down. The exit removes the primary institutional challenge against Sunetra Pawar. She still faces a crowded ballot, as exactly 22 independent candidates remain in the contest.
The withdrawal ended weeks of aggressive posturing. Congress initially refused to grant the Pawar family a walkover. Party leaders wanted an ideological battle against the BJP-allied NCP faction. This caused severe public friction. Ajit Pawar’s son, Parth Pawar, openly criticized Congress for immaturity. Congress leaders responded by calling him an ungrateful son.
Behind closed doors, the Mahayuti alliance mounted a heavy pressure campaign. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar, and MP Supriya Sule all personally contacted senior Congress figures on Thursday morning. They framed the withdrawal as an emotional tribute to Ajit Pawar’s decades of political influence, according to a report by The Hindu.
Congress eventually relented. Maharashtra Congress chief Harshwardhan Sapkal addressed the media to explain the sudden pivot. He said the party was adhering to a traditional political culture of courtesy during regional tragedies. He pointed to a historical precedent where the BJP withdrew a candidate following the death of former home minister R.R. Patil.
Sunetra Pawar set to win Baramati bypoll unopposed! Congress withdrew its candidate Akash More, on the last day for withdrawal, as a mark of respect for Ajit Pawar who died in a plane crash on January 28
CM Fadnavis personally called the Maharashtra Congress chief to request…
— 𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐬𝐡 𝐊𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐫 (@harshktweets) April 9, 2026
Sapkal issued a firm caveat alongside the concession. He stated the withdrawal does not signal ideological support for the Mahayuti alliance, as detailed by The Indian Express. Congress intends to aggressively contest the Baramati seat in the scheduled 2029 elections.
The sudden political truce reflects broader volatility in the state. Recent state leadership disputes forced rival factions to carefully manage their public optics ahead of the general voting public. Polling for the Baramati constituency will occur on April 23, 2026. The final vote count is scheduled for May 4, 2026, the Hindustan Times confirmed.
What the Baramati Truce Means for the 2029 Election Map
The 11th-hour withdrawal exposes the fragile tactical boundaries between Maharashtra’s rival alliances. By invoking the R.R. Patil precedent, Congress avoided a potentially bruising local defeat while maintaining the moral high ground. An electoral loss against a grieving widow in her late husband’s undisputed stronghold would have severely damaged Congress’s momentum.
The decision isolates the remaining 22 independent candidates. Sunetra Pawar can now consolidate state resources without burning campaign capital on a bitter fight against a major party apparatus. This frees the Mahayuti alliance to deploy its heavy hitters elsewhere.
Sapkal’s explicit warning about 2029 sets a strict expiration date on this courtesy. Congress is acknowledging Baramati as a temporary ceasefire zone rather than a ceded territory. Once the current term ends, the Pawar family will have to defend the legacy seat without the protective shield of public sympathy.