Pune: Dr Amol Kolhe Defeats Shivajirao Adhalrao Patil in Shirur Lok Sabha Election

Reported by Varad Bhatkhande

Shirur, 4th June 2024: The battle for the Shirur Lok Sabha seat was always going to be tense, as it was a contest between the Nationalist Congress Party’s (NCP) Sharad Pawar faction and the Ajit Pawar faction. Dr Amol Kolhe, representing NCP (Sharad Pawar), defeated NCP (Ajit Pawar) candidate Shivajirao Adhalrao Patil. Dr. Kolhe won the election by a margin of 1,15,580 votes.

The battle was particularly intense because, before the NCP split in 2023, Shirur was considered a recently won stronghold for the NCP. Dr Kolhe had secured Shirur in the 2019 Lok Sabha election against Shivajirao Adhalrao Patil, who was then with Shiv Sena. This election marked the second round between Adhalrao Patil and Dr. Kolhe. The campaigns were highly controversial, with various accusations being thrown by both candidates on social media and in public rallies.

The NCP led by Ajit Pawar suffered a significant setback, losing three out of four seats in Maharashtra. The only seat Ajit Pawar managed to win was the Raigad Lok Sabha seat, where his candidate Sunil Tatkare defeated Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Anant Geete. Ajit Pawar faced a personal loss as his wife lost in Baramati to his sister, Supriya Sule (NCP-SP), and another candidate, Archana Patil, lost to Omraje Nimbalkar from Shiv Sena (UBT). Dr Kolhe has now become the MP for Shirur for the second time in a row by defeating three-time MP Adhalrao Patil.