As Pune becomes a battleground with political parties vying to consolidate their influence over the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), most of the major parties are going their own ways to establish their dominance in the civic corridors. However, the designated city in-charges—expected to steer their parties’ campaigns across Pune—are largely preoccupied with securing victories in the wards they are contesting, limiting their broader leadership role.
The PMC was ruled by the BJP in the previous five-year term and this time, the party has gone all out to reestablish its hold. BJP’s Pune city chief Dhiraj Ghate is contesting from Navi Peth-Parvati ward, the same ward he represented during his tenure from 2017 to 2022. The BJP campaign is led by Union minister of State Murlidhar Mohol. However, the BJP is relying more on Chief Minister Devendra Fadanavis and other state ministers as well as its legislators from Pune to steer the party’s election campaign for the upcoming civic elections.
The NCP was the main Opposition party in the previous elected body of the PMC but its strength got divided with a vertical split in the party engineered by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar. However, the two NCP factions—one led by Ajit Pawar and the other by his veteran politician uncle Sharad Pawar—have forged a pre-poll alliance for the PMC elections.
NCP chief and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar is leading the election campaign for their alliance. City NCP chief Subhash Jagtap is contesting the election from Sahakarnagar-Padmavati ward and is busy campaigning in his ward to gain the confidence of the voters as he had lost in the previous civic elections. On the other hand, NCP(SP) has been left without a city unit chief as Prashant Jagtap left the party—right around the time when talks of alliance between NCP and NCP (SP) emerged—and went on to join the Congress. He is contesting from Wanowrie-Salunkhe Vihar ward.
Congress’s Pune city chief Arvind Shinde is also in the fray and is contesting from Pune Station-Jay Jawannagar—a ward he has represented in the civic body for a long time. For Congress, there is no single leader doing election campaigns across the city and its state leaders, including Maharashtra Congress chief Harshvardhan Sapkal, former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and state minister Satej Patil are campaigning for the party candidates.
After the split in the Shiv Sena four years ago, the city unit of the party split into Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Uddhav Thackeray led-Shiv Sena (UBT). The Shiv Sena is headed by former corporator Nana Bhangire and he himself is contesting the election from Mohammadwadi-Undri ward. His party is relying on the campaigning by Deputy Chief Minister and party chief Eknath Shinde as well as state minister Uday Samant with no tall leader to take hold of campaigning in Pune.
City Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Sanjay More is in the fray from Rawiwar Peth-Nana Peth ward and is harping hopes of getting elected to the civic body for the first time. The Shiv Sena (UBT) campaigning in Pune is led by former state minister Sachin Ahir, who is divided between campaigning for Pune as well as in Mumbai for the BMC elections.
Story continues below this ad
The Shiv Sena (UBT), which is in alliance with the Congress, has also joined hands with the Raj Thackeray-led MNS, for PMC elections. City MNS chief Sainath Babar is contesting from Kondhwa Khurd-Kausar Baug ward and is going all out to retain the seat he represented in the previous five-year term.
Click here to join Express Pune WhatsApp channel and get a curated list of our stories
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
