It will be NCP vs BJP for Pune MLC seat

The candidature of Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Ashok Yenpure and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) rebel Vilas Lande for the local authority constituency poll in Pune will prove to be a huge challenge for NCP’s sitting MLC and party candidate Anil Bhonsale. The tally of each party shows no one will win on first quota votes.

In Pune local authority constituency, five candidates remained in election fray, including Mr Bhonsale (NCP), Mr Yenpure (BJP), Sanjay Jagtap (Congress) and two independents, including Yashraj Parkhi and Mr Lande. NCP leader and former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar asked Mr Lande to withdraw from the election. However, the collector rejected Mr Lande’s withdrawal as the deadline for the same was 3 pm and he had reached late.

According to NCP insider, Mr Lande did it deliberately, as he wanted to contest the election and hence, filed his nomination without taking consent of party leader Ajit Pawar and state president Sunil Tatkare. But due to technical reason, his name will remain in candidate list.

In Pune, the main fight will be between BJP’s Mr Yenpure and NCP’s Mr Bhonsale. There are 688 voters in Pune constituency. Out of which NCP has 260 voters in their pocket, Congress has 121 voters, Shiv Sena 87, BJP 75, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena 33 voters. Apart from these, Rashtriya Samaj Party legislator Rahul Kul has 22 supporters who will be expected to vote in favour of the BJP candidate. The Rashtriya Samaj Party is an ally of BJP. Prakash Dhariwal from Shirur has 19 voters who will also be expected to vote for the BJP.

Shiv Sena has withdrawn its nomination but did not clarify whether it will support the BJP candidate. To win the election, a candidate will need a quota of 345 votes and currently no party is in a position to gather the required minimum. According to officers from the election commission, if no candidate succeeds in the first round, the second preference votes cast in favour of the candidate will be considered to decide the winner.