The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), led by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar, has defeated rival panels backed by the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) and a rebel candidate in the election to the Someshwar Cooperative Sugar Factory in Pune district.

Sunetra Pawar’s panel won all 21 seats in the election, the results of which were declared on Tuesday. The contest was the first major electoral battle in the cooperative sector since the death of NCP president Ajit Pawar and was widely viewed as a test of Sunetra Pawar’s leadership.