Rohit Pawar out of poll fray: Not NCP chief's kin, just a namesake

PUNE: Poll officials from Ahmednagar rejected the nomination of Rohit Pawar from Karjat-Jamkhed constituency, fuelling speculation that the entry of third generation of Sharad Pawar's family had ended before it could start.

It soon turned out that the Rohit Pawar, whose candidature was rejected, was not NCP chief's grand-nephew.

Rather, he just shared his name with the firebrand youth leader of the NCP.

During the scrutiny of nomination papers it was found that the independent candidate Rohit Pawar had filed an incomplete affidavit and hence was rejected, said Archana Nashte, the returning officer of jamkhed karjat assembly constituency in Ahmednagar. However, the papers of the NCP candidate Rohit Pawar ,contesting from the same constituency, was found valid.

Across the state, 798 nomination forms were rejected while those of 4,739 candidates are valid. These candidates have until Monday to pull out their candidatures. Most rejections (44) were from Bhokar in Nanded.

However, NCP and Congress did suffer some genuine setbacks in Aurangabad and Nashik. Papers of Congress nominee Ramesh Gaikwad in Aurangabad West were rejected as he had concealed information about offences against him. He was seen as a strong challenger to sitting Shiv Sena MLA Sanjay Shirsath. "I will approach the high court...," Gaikwad said.

The returning officer at Paithan didn't accept a last-minute change in candidature requested by NCP state president Jayant Patil. NCP had given the mandatory A-B form to Dattatrey Gorde, instead of whom Patil requested that the fresh A-B form given to Sanjay Waghchaure be accepted. However, Waghchaure's nomination was rejected and Gorde's papers retained as NCP nominee. MNS backed off from Yeola at the last minute. NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal is the sitting MLA from here. TNN