E-Paper
Pune’s skyline cluttered with hoardings of poll aspirants
There are a total 21 assembly constituencies in Pune district but the number of candidates aspiring to contest the upcoming assembly polls is increasing, what with multiple candidates vying for tickets from their respective parties
As far as the eye can see, huge hoardings and banners displaying the names of political leaders aspiring to contest the upcoming state assembly polls are coming up across the city. Not only are these sky signs defacing Pune but most of them are illegal according to the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) which has now initiated action against all such unauthorised hoardings.
Prashant Thombare, deputy commissioner (license and sky sign), said, “On Tuesday, we held a meeting regarding this issue with all our ward-level officers and action to remove such illegal hoardings/banners has begun. Only banners with proper permission will remain in the city and all other banners will be removed.”
There are a total 21 assembly constituencies in Pune district but the number of candidates aspiring to contest the upcoming assembly polls is increasing, what with multiple candidates vying for tickets from their respective parties. In Kasba constituency for instance, the sitting MLA is Congress’s Ravindra Dhangekar however hoardings have also come up of both the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) city president Dhiraj Ghate and another BJP leader Hemant Rasane who had contested the March 2023 by-poll. Even in Khadakwasla constituency, banners of not only BJP’s Bhimrao Tapkir who is the sitting MLA but also of another BJP former corporator Manjusha Nagpure and her husband Deepak Nagpure have come up at Sinhagad Road.
The assembly polls notwithstanding, Punekars are miffed with the multitude of sky signs disfiguring their beautiful city.
Ajinkya Bahare from Kasba Peth constituency said, “The state assembly elections are soon going to be announced but before that, our city is being filled with banners and hoardings by these political party leaders. There is not a single chowk left in the city where such boards have not come up and it is ruining the face of our beautiful Pune.”
Mandar Rathi from Khadakwasla constituency said, “These political party leaders will now just advertise themselves to get tickets from their respective parties. But only one person will get the ticket and all this is a sheer waste of money.”
