Baramati, traditionally a male-dominated constituency, has the highest number of women contestants in the country — seven out of 17 candidates here are women. With Supriya Sule replacing her father Sharad Pawar as the main contender, the other parties went scrambling to field women candidates. Out of the 15.89 lakh voters in Baramati, 7,52,771 are women.

“Sule’s candidature was definitely the reason why I was chosen to contest the seat by the BJP. The party wanted to field a woman against a woman,” said Kanta Jaysing Nalawade, the BJP candidate in Baramati. Also in the reckoning was Sangita Rajenimbalkar whose name was doing the rounds of the BJP office initially. Nalawade is banking on her being “the daughter of the soil who has been pitted against the daughter of one of the richest politicians in the country.”

Sule, herself, is unfazed by the entry of six other women candidates in the contest. On asked whether this would divide the women votes that may have gone in her favour, the NCP candidate said, “I am not thinking of this at all. I am all for gender equality and more women candidates are not going to make any difference to me. I have full faith in my voters.”

Mayawati Chitre, the Bharatiya Minorities Suraksha Mahasangh candidate, insists there is every chance of women votes getting divided at Baramati. Confident of getting at least 15,000 votes, she admitted that she is under no delusion that she has even as outside chance to win. “Even these many votes will be great, given the candidates that I am standing against. I have worked with the poor in this region for many years and know their problems,” said Chitre.

... contd.