PUNE: Bharatiya Janata Party led Mahayuti alliance is leading in the early trends of the counting for the high-stakes battle for the Pune local body polls.In the Pune municipal commission, 1,165 candidates are in the fray across 41 wards. According to Maharashtra state election commission, Pune civic polls recorded a low voter turnout of 54%.Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) registered around 60% turnout, though this too marked a decline from 65.3% in 2017.In 2017 elections, BJP emerged victorious, winning 97 seats. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) secured 39 seats, followed by Shiv Sena with 10 and Congress with nine. The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) won two seats, AIMIM one, while Independents and others accounted for four seats.This election is also interesting as both the factions Ajit Pawar’s NCP is contesting the elections breaking way from Mahayuti. It has also joined hands with Sharad Pawar’s faction after party’s split in 2022.Key highlightsBJP dominates Pune resultsEarly trends show the Bharatiya Janata Party leading in 39 seats, while Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) was ahead in 14 seats.The counting process is underway at designated centres under tight security, with officials stating that trends may fluctuate as counting progresses across multiple rounds. Several wards are witnessing close contests, while a few have shown clear early leads.‘People not relying in election speeches’On counting for PMC elections, Maharashtra minister Chandrakant Patil said, “People are seeing what we have done, not relying on election speeches. People are trusting us based on our past work. We raised this question in people’s minds: If they (Shiv Sena UBT) wanted to do development work, why didn’t they do it earlier? We did a lot of work even during the two and a half years of COVID-19.”“Whether the Thackeray brothers come together or Congress and NCP join hands, it is not in the interest of the people. People have understood that this is for their own selfish motives. In Mumbai, BJP will get 90 seats and Shiv Sena 40; this number may increase but will not decrease. In Pune, we will not get less than 115 seats,” he added.
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