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Pune assembly bypolls: 50.06 % voter turnout in Kasba Peth, 50.47% in Chinchwad
The results of these bypolls, which saw a high-voltage campaign by senior leaders from various parties, will set the tone for the forthcoming elections in the state
The high-stake battle in Pune as part of bypolls concluded peacefully with voter turnout of 50.06% recorded in Kasba Peth assembly constituency and 50.47% in Chinchwad assembly seat on Sunday, with several of those standing in the voting queue speaking about better roads, proper waste management and adequate water supply being the issues they want addressed. The average voter turnout was 50.26%
After voting began at 7 am on Sunday, voters were welcomed with much enthusiasm the initial few hours saw people trickle into the booths to select the leaders of their choice. But as the day wore on, their numbers increased, perhaps because many were waiting for the temperature to come down.
The outcome of these bypolls will be announced on March 2. According to political analysts, the results of these bypolls, which saw a high-voltage campaign by senior leaders from various parties, will set the tone for the forthcoming elections in the state, including of the cash-rich Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and other civic bodies.
In the Kasba Peth assembly seat, the contest was mainly between BJP’s Hemant Rasane and Congress’s Ravindra Dhangekar, who is supported by the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance of the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray). In Chinchwad, an industrial township near Pune city, the contest is between Ashwini Jagtap of the BJP and Nana Kate of the NCP. Rival candidates in both the seats have expressed confidence of emerging victorious.
The bypolls in Kasba Peth and Chinchwad were necessitated due to the death of their respective Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs Mukta Tilak and Laxman Jagtap.
Voters were seen queuing up to exercise their franchise post 4pm in the Kasba Peth and Chinchwad constituencies amid adequate security arrangements made in both the constituencies in view of the polling, authorities said.
Vinoba Bhave high school in Ganj Peth, a polling booth under Kasba Peth assembly segment, saw a long queue of voters, particularly women, around 5.30 pm. The police allowed everyone in till 6 pm.
In the last three hours, Kasba recorded 15% voting while Chinchwad saw 19%. By 5 pm, the voter turnout at Kasba Peth was 45.25%. This was far higher compared to morning hours when Kasba Peth witnessed 8.25% polling and Chinchwad 10.45% between 7 am and 11 am.
This was far higher compared to morning hours when Kasba Peth witnessed 8.25% polling and Chinchwad 10.45% between 7 am and 11 am.
There was a minor clash between supporters of Shiv Sena (UBT) rebel candidate Rahul Kalate and the BJP outside a polling station in Chinchwad and police intervened to bring the situation under control, Pimpri Chinchwad’s deputy commissioner of police Kakasaheb Dole said.
In total, 510 polling centres had been set up for 5,68,954 registered voters in Chinchwad and 215 polling centres and 2,75,428 registered voters in Kasba Peth constituency.
With Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena and the BJP coming to power after the collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government in June last year, the bypolls in Chinchwad and Kasba seats have become a prestige issue for both the sides.
“These are mere bypolls in two constituencies, but they are in a way symbolically important and will have large implications particularly the upcoming civic elections and the outcome will shape up perception,” said Chitra Lele, professor, Political Science.
Whatever is the result of these two bypolls, it is not going to affect the stability of the present government, but the bypolls are very crucial politically for the ruling Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the BJP, as well as the MVA.
Previously, traditional Congress-NCP votes were seen getting transferred to the Shiv Sena (UBT). This will be the first time to be seen if the traditional Shiv Sena votes are getting transferred to the NCP and Congress. “Though the right-winger voters seem to be with Thackeray even after the split, these byelections will prove as a litmus test whether those voters will vote for the NCP and Congress,” said political observer Abhay Deshpande.
Since the stakes were too high for both sides, senior leaders like NCP president Sharad Pawar, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, and many cabinet ministers from ruling dispensation, and other leaders from opposition campaigned for their respective candidates.
