India, March 14 -- Maharashtra deputy chief minister Sunetra Pawar was elected unopposed as chairperson of the Malegaon Sugar Factory in Baramati on Friday, becoming the first woman to lead the cooperative.

Her late husband, former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, had previously chaired the factory and had made its recent elections, held eight months ago, highly prestigious. Despite his statewide political duties, Ajit Pawar had closely supervised the elections, securing his panel's dominance in the cooperative.

Following Pawar's death, the chairman's post fell vacant, and all elected members of the board unanimously chose Sunetra Pawar as the new chairperson. With this, she has become the first woman to chair the factory in its 70-yea...