Lok Sabha polls: NCP (Sharad Pawar) names 7 candidates, fields Suresh Mhatre from Bhiwandi, Bajrang Sonawane from Beed

livemint.com:

Supriya Sule was announced as a candidate for the Baramati Lok Sabha seat. The three-term parliamentarian and daughter of NCP founder Sharad Pawar is pitted against her sister-in-law and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar’s wife Sunetra Pawar.

On Thursday, Supriya Sule, who has been fielded by her party from Baramati Lok Sabha constituency in Maharashtra’s Pune district, accused the present government of being against women and farmers. Baramati will go to polls in the third phase on May 7 and votes will be counted on June 4.

Days before the first vote for the Lok Sabha polls is cast, the Supreme Court on Thursday asked the rival NCP factions led by party founder Sharad Pawar and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar to abide by its directions on the use of symbols, party names and disclaimers in publicity material for the elections. On March 19, the top court had allowed the Sharad Pawar faction to use 'Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar' as its name and 'man blowing turha' (a traditional trumpet also known as tutari) as the symbol for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls and assembly elections in four states.

Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and Odisha are being held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha polls. The Election Commission has recognised the faction led by Ajit Pawar as the "real" Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and allotted it the 'clock' poll symbol used by the outfit before the split.

Sharad Pawar had founded the NCP with former Lok Sabha speaker Purno Sangma and Tariq Anwar in 1999 after their expulsion from the Congress. Ajit Pawar had walked away with a majority of NCP MLAs in July last year and supported the BJP-Shiv Sena government led by Eknath