E-Paper
Fadnavis hints civic polls in Maha likely in October-November
The delay in civic elections has heightened restlessness among the political parties and their workers, with the opposition accusing the government of having no stomach to hold the civic polls
Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday hinted that the much-awaited municipal elections will likely be held in October or November this year.
Fadnavis was addressing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers at Yerawada after unveiling the party Pune city unit president, Jagdish Mulik’s report card. “It is expected that the municipal elections will be held in October or November once the court gives its ruling. Our workers must ensure that the BJP wins the elections and that the next mayor of Pune is of the BJP,” Fadnavis said.
The elections to 14 municipal corporations including Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur, Nashik and Pimpri-Chinchwad were originally scheduled in February 2022 but were deferred due to various petitions in court. The petitions are now being heard in the Supreme Court (SC) and are at the last stage of hearing. As the civic elections were postponed, administrators have been serving in all these municipal corporations and there have been no public representatives. The delay in civic elections has heightened restlessness among the political parties and their workers, with the opposition accusing the government of having no stomach to hold the civic polls.
Later in the evening while speaking to reporters, Fadnavis said, “I have only expressed a guess about the elections considering that SC order may be expected by August and in October-November, polls may take place.”
Fadnavis came down heavily on the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Shiv Sena (UBT) for bragging about defeating the BJP. “The opposition parties are creating a narrative that after the Karnataka victory, they will win the Lok Sabha and Maharashtra Assembly elections, too. But that is not true. The voters believe in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership,” Fadnavis said.
Fadnavis said that the BJP will perform better in Karnataka during the Lok Sabha polls.
“It’s my challenge that although the Congress won the assembly elections in Karnataka, the situation in the Lok Sabha elections will be different. The BJP will win 25 out of the 28 seats in the Lok Sabha polls. The BJP’s voting percentage has come down by half per cent but at the same time, the Janata Dal and Samajwadi Party’s vote share has been diverted to the Congress which will help them to win,” Fadnavis said.
“Usually, it is considered that whoever wins in Uttar Pradesh (UP) comes to power in the country. On the same day of the Karnataka counting, the BJP broke its own record in UP and swept the polls to all 17 municipal corporations. However, no one is talking about that. The BJP workers need to start preparing for the municipal elections and we will definitely come to power again in Pune,” Fadnavis said.
Taking a swipe at the NCP and Shiv Sena (UBT), Fadnavis said, “Both did not get a single seat in Karnataka but they are the ones who are celebrating the Karnataka victory the most. Maharashtra too will reject these parties.”
Earlier in the day, Fadnavis inaugurated the auditorium and Pimpri-Chinchwad’s administrative building and did the groundbreaking of the 24x7 water project in Baner and Mahalunge area. “The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has done a better job in PMC and PCMC and undertook several infrastructure development works here,” he said.
