BJP leads in Pune amid cutthroat contest, Congress hopeful at the state & national level
Maharashtra has seen the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) pull ahead of the Mahayuti even as the counting progresses. However, the story unfolding in Pune is different with the BJP’s Murlidhar Mohol having taken the lead
Despite exit polls predicting an easy win for the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP), the final results have seen cutthroat competition between the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), especially in Maharashtra. The BJP and Congress, and their respective alliance partners, are pitted against each other in a tight race that has seen numbers change nearly every hour. Maharashtra has seen the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) pull ahead of the Mahayuti even as the counting progresses. However, the story unfolding in Pune is different with the BJP’s Murlidhar Mohol having taken the lead.
Earlier in the day, the situation was a bit tense as Mohol was leading during the postal vote counting but Congress’s Ravindra Dhangekar began leading in the first two rounds after the EVM vote counting began. From the fourth round onwards however, Mohol once again took charge much to the relief of the BJP workers.
No wonder celebrations began in the morning itself at the BJP office in Kothrud with not only party workers but even their families participating in the revelry. With a huge television screen right outside the office and songs blaring from the speakers, the atmosphere was charged to say the least.
Waving the party flag, Nilesh More, a BJP worker told Hindustan Times: “The BJP will definitely win. He (Murlidhar Mohol) has taken the lead with 60,000 votes right now. We know he will cross one lakh votes.”
Not just the BJP office but party workers began painting the entire city saffron from the morning. “It has been ‘Jai Shri Ram’ since the morning. We are very sure that the BJP will win more than 400 votes,” said another party worker.
If the BJP was in a celebratory mode, the Congress wasn’t far behind. Large cutouts of party leaders of the INDIA bloc adorned the entrance to Congress Bhavan at Shivaji Nagar even as Congress workers huddled around a television screen to watch the counting progress.
“We are very positive. It’s only the eighth round right now and there are 11 more rounds to go. We are hoping for the best,” said a Congress worker.
The president of the Pune City District Congress Committee, Arvind Shinde, told Hindustan Times: “We are not leading in Pune right now. The BJP and Shiv Sena have taken the lead. Right now, we are a little sad for the Pune Lok Sabha seat. But at the state and national level, we are hopeful.”
“The BJP was thinking that the fight will be one-sided but it doesn’t seem like that. The INDIA front is gaining more and more seats. At the end of this counting, we don’t think that the BJP will be able to walk the ‘400 paar’ talk,” Shinde said.
Meanwhile, workers of the Nationalist Congress Party/NCP (SP) began celebrations after the fourth round of counting when initial trends indicated a huge victory for their candidates in the Pune, Baramati and Shirur general assembly constituencies. The festivities were marked by gulaal, firecrackers and sweets, not to mention dancing to the beats of dhol-taasha.
Baramati saw a tough fight between NCP (SP) candidate Supriya Sule, who was in a leading position from the first round and NCP candidate and wife of deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, Sunetra Pawar, who for a while looked like she was taking over from Sule till the latter pipped her at the post from the fourth round onwards. As soon as there were clear indications that Sule would win, party workers began bursting crackers.
However, NCP member Pradeep Deshmukh wasn’t satisfied with the results and said, “We respect and accept the people’s choice but the results are not what we expected though we tried our best. We will re-analyse our work and in the coming days, we will try our best to carve a niche in people’s hearts.”
In Shirur, celebrations began early with Kolhe in a leading position right from the first round and maintaining it consistently. Kolhe’s family members congratulated him and offered him sweets even as some NCP (SP) workers and villagers paid him a visit to congratulate him on his success. In some areas, party workers smeared gulaal on each other and danced with abandon as Kolhe garnered a huge lead after the sixth round.
About Kolhe’s victory, Yogesh (Babu) Pate, sarpanch of Narayangaon village, said, “This victory is significant and the villagers are really happy. Everyone in our village unanimously supported Kolhe and for the second time, he will win from the Shirur Lok Sabha seat. We are proud that our village member is going to be a Member of Parliament and this is a happy moment for us. We are now hoping that Kolhe will push for the solid waste management project that is pending the central government’s nod.”
Whereas in Maval, it was a fight between the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena’s candidate Shrirang Barane and the Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray-led Shiv Sena’s candidate Sanjog Waghere. While Barane was in a leading position right from the first round, there wasn’t much action till about 1.30 pm.