E-Paper
PMC polls: 14 candidates clinch victory by razor-thin margins
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) lost six seats by a margin lower than 500, followed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with three seats and one seat each by Shiv Sena (UBT) and Congress
The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) elections saw a series of nail-biting contests, with 17 candidates winning their seats by margins of less than 1,000 votes.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) lost six seats by a margin lower than 500, followed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with three seats and one seat each by Shiv Sena (UBT) and Congress.
The closest battle was fought in Ward 17A (Ramtekdi-Malwadi-Vaiduwadi) where BJP’s Khandu Londhe secured victory by 55 votes, making it one of the narrowest wins recorded in the election. Londhe defeated Ashok Kamble of NCP.
In fact, all political battles in Ward 17 were close fights. From 17C, Payal Tupe of BJP defeated Sangita Tupe by just 562 votes. Prashant Tupe of BJP secured a win against NCP’s Anand Alkute by 625 votes in 17D.
From Ward 22 (Kashewadi-Dias Plot), known as a stronghold of Congress, three candidates were elected by less than 500 votes. From Ward 22A, Mrunal Kamble of BJP secured her win against Indira Bagawe of Congress by 232 votes. From Ward 22B, Congress candidate Rafique Sheikh won against Ladkat Sandeep of BJP by a margin of 350 votes. From Ward 22D, Vivek Yadav of BJP clinched victory against Congress candidate Avinash Bagawe by just 62 votes.
From this ward, the son and daughter-in-law of Congress leader and former minister Ramesh Bagwe were defeated by narrow margins. Congress candidate Shaikh won from this ward also by a very thin margin.
From neighbouring Ward 23 (Ravivar Peth-Nana Peth) Laxmi Andekar candidate from NCP secured her win against Gadale Rutuja of BJP by 141 votes.
From Ward 2B (Phulenagar-Nagpur Chawl), Ravi alias Harshal Tingre from NCP won against Sudhir Waghmode of BJP by 138 votes. In another close fight in Ward 7B (Gokhalenagar-Wakdewadi), Anjali Orse from NCP defeated Sayali Malave of BJP by 216 votes.
In the southern stretch, the Hadapsar-Mundhwa area under Ward 16 (Hadapsar-Satavwadi) witnessed its first civic election after the merger of surrounding villages into PMC. Two of the four seats were won by thin margins.
From Ward 16A, Vaishali Bankar of NCP defeated Sena UBT candidate Pallavi Jagtap by 348 votes. In Ward 16C, Sena UBT candidate Nitin Gawade clinched victory over BJP’s Sandeep Dalavi by 404-vote margin. This is the only seat secured by Sena UBT as it had contested for 62 seats in Pune civic polls.
In Ward 28 (Janata Vasahat-Hingane Khurd), Suraj Lokhande of NCP secured a win against BJP’s Vinaya Bahulikar by 228 votes. In the neighbouring Ward 30A (Karvenagar-Hingne Home Colony), NCP’s Swapnil Dudhane clinched victory against BJP’s Sushil Mengde by 355 votes.
In Ward 13 (Pune Railway Station - Jayjawan Nagar), BJP’s Nilesh Alhat (13A) won against Kunal Rajguru of Congress by 897 votes. While in 13C, Congress candidate Vaishali Bhalerao clinched victory against BJP’s Ashwini Bhoslae by 750 votes.
Political analysts said such razor-thin margins underscore voter polarisation in several wards and demonstrate the importance of grassroots mobilisation, last-mile campaigning and voter turnout in local body elections.
With multiple results decided by a handful of votes, defeated candidates are expected to closely examine the counting process, even as the newly elected corporators prepare to take charge of civic governance in Pune.
