Hat-trick for BJP as Murlidhar Mohol clinches Pune LS seat
Interestingly, the Kasba Peth assembly segment, which helped Dhangekar just a year ago during the by-polls, this time backed Mohol
In the Lok Sabha elections, counting for which was carried out on Tuesday, 50-year-old Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Murllidhar Mohol defeated Congress nominee Ravindra Dhangekar by a margin of 1,22,762 votes. The former got 5,84,171 votes while the latter got 4,61,409 votes.
Interestingly, the Kasba Peth assembly segment, which helped Dhangekar just a year ago during the by-polls, this time backed Mohol.
For the initial two rounds Mohol, a Maratha face, appeared trailing. However, by the third round, the former Pune mayor started taking the lead which lasted till the last round.
Mohol said, “The citizens of Pune have shown confidence in Prime Minister Narendra Modi and have given me a chance to serve them. This victory is of party workers.”
In the last three elections, BJP kept on changing the candidate for Pune while it won all three polls since 2014. In 2014 the BJP candidate was Anil Shirole and in 2019, late Girish Bapat was fielded by the party. After his death, the Pune seat was lying vacant for over a year as the Election Commission did not hold by-polls.
In this election, Mohol registered a victory even as his margin has come down as compared to Shirole and Bapat. Both Shirole and Bapat had won by a margin of over three lakh votes in the previous elections.
All three MPs from Pune including Shirole, Bapat and Mohol served as corporators in Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and held key posts. Shirole was the opposition leader, Bapat was the standing committee chairman and Mohol was the former mayor and standing committee chairman.
After the defeat, Congress’ Dhangekar said, “I respect the voters’ decision. We put in our best, but could not win the polls.”
Another candidate in the fray Vasant More from Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi got 31,991 votes.
In 2002, Mohol contested PMC elections and became a corporator for the first time. In the subsequent years, he served not just as a corporator but as standing committee chief and mayor of Pune between 2019 and 2022.
For Mohol, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray, among other leaders, had held public meetings in the city.