Ajit Pawar Faces High Stakes Test in Malegaon Sugar Mill Elections

With 19,000 Voters from Baramati, the Stronghold of Ajit Pawar, Control Over a Key Cooperative Draws Statewide Attention

- Abhay Khairnar and Yogesh Joshi

PUNE: The upcoming election to the board of the Malegaon Cooperative Sugar Mill in Baramati—scheduled for Sunday—has become a high-stakes political contest, drawing attention far beyond its 19,000-member electorate. At the center of it is deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, who is contesting a sugar mill election for the first time in nearly four decades.

Located in Baramati, the Pawar family's stronghold, the Malegaon factory has around 19,000 sugarcane-producing shareholders. Considered one of the most financially sound cooperatives in the state, it offers among the highest procurement rates for sugarcane—₹3,636 per tonne last year—making it central to both the local economy and political clout in the region.

Pawar is not only leading the ruling Nilkantheshwar panel but has also announced that he will become chairman if the panel retains power.