Sunetra Pawar, a Rajya Sabha member and leader of the Nationalist Congress Party, has become Maharashtra’s first female Deputy Chief Minister. She succeeds her late husband, Ajit Pawar, who perished in a plane tragedy earlier this week. Sunetra Pawar, the daughter of former Maharashtra minister Padamsinh Bajirao Patil, ran unsuccessfully for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
In July 2025, her party and the state’s ruling alliance appointed her to the Rajya Sabha. Pawar, who has been elected as the leader of the NCP by MLAs, will be sworn in today at 5 p.m. She has six months to become a state legislator. Sunetra Pawar’s total income was ₹4,22,21,010, or ₹4.2 crore, according to her affidavit filed for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
This is according to the Income Tax Return for the fiscal year 2022–23. Her assets, comprising movable and immovable property, were valued at ₹1,27,59,98,205 (₹127 crore). She revealed ₹97 crore in immovable assets and ₹30.3 crore in movable assets. Her liabilities were listed as 17 crores. Cash: ₹7.3 lakh. Motor vehicle costs ₹86 lakh. Deposits at banks or financial institutions: ₹5.3 crore. Bonds, Debentures, and Shares: ₹66 lakh. Jewellery” costs ₹1.3 crore.
Silver kitchenware weighing 35kg were estimated to be worth ₹24 lakh at the time, while 1,030 gm gold decorations were worth ₹51 lakh in 2024. 28-karat diamond jewelry was also worth ₹24 lakh. Other assets, including interest and claim values, totaled ₹8.4 crore. Sunetra owned stakes in various companies, according to the 2024 affidavit, including Baramati Agro Ltd Equity stakes, Venkeys (India) Limited, VIA Creations Pvt Ltd, and Baramati Urban Co Op Bank Ltd.
Sunetra Pawar’s immovable assets included ₹13 crore of agricultural land and ₹37 crore of non-agricultural land. Her home properties included a ₹4 crore flat at the Jhiroji Apartment in Kalyani Nagar and a ₹10 crore flat at the Sindh Housing Society in Pune. She also owned two more residences, including one in Mumbai’s Shubhada Apartment. According to the affidavit, her residential complexes are valued ₹35 crore in total.
Sunetra Pawar’s liabilities included loans from banks and commercial institutions for ₹16 crore. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, she was beaten by her sister-in-law Supriya Sule from Baramati by 1.5 lakh votes. But she was eventually elected to the Rajya Sabha. Her nomination as deputy chief minister was proposed by senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal and seconded by other senior leaders; she was unanimously chosen NCP leader.
