The elections for the posts of mayor and deputy mayor in the municipal corporations of Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad will take place tomorrow (February 6).
In the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) elections, held on January 15, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged as the single-largest party, winning 119 of the 165 seats, while the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) stood in second position with 27 seats and the Congress third with 15. In Pimpri-Chinchwad, the saffron party has 84 of the 128 corporators, while the NCP has 37 corporators.
Looking at the numbers, it was expected that the elections for the posts of mayor and deputy mayor would be unopposed, as the BJP has single-handedly crossed the magic figure in both corporations. However, it is not to be.
In PMC, the BJP announced Manjusha Nagpure and Parshuram Wadekar as its nominees for the posts of mayor and deputy mayor, respectively. The Congress party has fielded Ashwini Landge for the post of mayor and Sahil Kedari for deputy mayor, while the NCP has fielded Sheetal Sawant for the post of mayor and Datta Bahirat for the post of deputy mayor.
Even though the election won’t be a cakewalk, Nagpure and Wadekar are favourites to win. Nagpure, a three-time corporator, won the elections unopposed from Ward No. 35B (Suncity–Manikbaug). A 46-year-old postgraduate in Business Management, she belongs to a family with a staunch Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) background. Meanwhile, Wadekar, a Republican Party of India (RPI) corporator, won from Ward No. 8A (Aundh-Bopodi) by defeating NCP candidate Vinod Ranpise with a margin of 8,747 votes.
Meanwhile, in PCMC, the election for the post of mayor will be unopposed. Two-time BJP corporator Ravi Landge from the Bhosari area is set to be the next mayor. However, there is a BJP vs NCP fight for the deputy mayor’s post. The BJP has nominated Sharmila Babar, a two-time corporator from the Nigdi Pradhikaran area, while the NCP has given the chance to Vaishali Kalbhor, who won from Seat B of Ward Number 14 (Chinchwad Railway Station–Akurdi Gaothan).
While filing the nominations, there was last-minute drama within the BJP. The party had earlier nominated Veejay, aka Sheetal Shinde, for the deputy mayor’s post. However, things took an unexpected turn when Shinde walked out of the PCMC building in anger after not being given the top post, which he desired. Later, the party made a last-minute change and gave Babar the nomination.
