Shinde-Fadnavis faction may find seat sharing easier under restructured panel

While four-member wards can be beneficial for the BJP, they are likely to pose a challenge for the Congress which is struggling to return to the game in Pune

Even as the state government has issued directions to all municipal corporations to return to the 2017 system of four members per ward, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has prepared a preliminary plan to restructure wards as having four members each. With this, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is likely to gain, considering that the party may have a long list of aspirants. Political observers noted that those with a strong connect and strong network of workers can be beneficiaries as much as those wanting to tide over the party’s image.

Eknath Shinde, Devendra Fadnavis lead faction is likely to gain, considering that the party may have a long list of aspirants. (HT FILE PHOTO)

While four-member wards can be beneficial for the BJP, they are likely to pose a challenge for the Congress which is struggling to return to the game in Pune. Chitra Lele, professor, political science, said, “For those parties which often fight elections on the basis of the party’s overall image instead of individual candidates, the four-member system can work as the party can utilise its resources and get members elected.”

The restructured wards from the central areas do not have much change but those from the suburbs have seen alterations considering that 34 villages were merged with the municipal limits in the past three years.

A senior officer of the PMC accepted on condition of anonymity that when the state government scrapped the earlier ward delimitation, it was clear that the state government would follow the 2017 election formula where four-member wards were acceptable. By considering that, they had kept the ward structure ready and would submit it to the municipal commission for approval and later to the state government and state election commission. Ward delimitation is very important in municipal elections as it decides the results of the elections.

The BJP members also hope that with wards having a greater number of members and a large number of voters, there are greater chances of winning the elections as voters prefer parties over candidates. BJP city unit president Jagdish Mulik said, “During the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, the ward delimitation was carried out as per the convenience of their candidates. But now all guidelines are being followed. After the new process, many elected members from opposition parties will prefer to join the BJP.”

Whereas the Congress and NCP said that small wards are better as along with the party, the candidates too are important. If candidates contesting polls have their own vote banks of over 1,000 votes, it can change the results. Even small parties and independent candidates prefer smaller wards as there are more chances of getting elected.

NCP city unit president Prashant Jagtap said, “We are prepared to contest the election in any situation. But by starting fresh ward structuring, the ruling BJP is unnecessarily wasting time. We are expecting positive results from the court as we have challenged this whole process.”