E-Paper
Sunday’s bypolls to determine course of Maharashtra’s politics for tomorrow
The bypolls for two assembly constituencies — Kasba Peth and Chinchwad — will see around 0.843 million voters, around 10 per cent of the population of Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad considering revised estimates of demographic change
Pune: The bypolls for two assembly constituencies — Kasba Peth and Chinchwad — will see around 0.843 million voters, around 10 per cent of the population of Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad considering revised estimates of demographic change in the absence of latest census, exercise their franchise.
However, many residents claim that the Sunday polling will determine Maharashtra’s politics for the coming days. If the Congress candidate fighting polls with the support of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) snatches both the seats from the BJP, it can be considered as the first important victory after the grand alliance was formed. The possible development can be perceived as a precursor to civic polls scheduled in various cities, including Pune, Mumbai, Nagpur, Nashik and Aurangabad.
If the BJP manages to retain the two seats, the MVA will have a tough time in sticking together. It will be the BJP in alliance with Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena expanding its base and can take on the MVA that will have to deal with addressing internal fault-lines when civic polls are expected soon.
For the voters, the election is a chance to assert themselves for better tomorrow as both these constituencies have been facing long-pending issues.
The residents of Kasba Peth, which largely covers the central parts of Pune including peth areas, seek redevelopment of old wadas, encroachment of roads and footpaths, congested bylanes and inadequate water supply. Their counterparts at Chinchwad face shortage of water supply, traffic chaos and slow work of Metro rail.
Owners of old wadas cannot redevelop the dilapidated structures due to complex municipality rules and reluctance of tenants to vacate the places. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on the last day of campaign on Friday promised town planning scheme for central parts of Pune to solve the issue of these structures.
“We plan to introduce town planning scheme for Kasba Peth soon,” Shinde said, while canvassing for BJP candidate Hemant Rasane.
The Congress, meanwhile, has blamed the BJP for not doing any development in the constituency in the past three and a half decade. “Since 1995, Kasba Peth has been electing BJP candidates but the problems of the constituency remain the same. In fact, the situation has worsened over the period with no solution found for wadas, traffic mess, bad roads and water scarcity,” said Mohan Joshi of the Congress, with its party candidate Ravindra Dhangekar contesting against Rasane.
Kasba Peth has a total of 275,679 electorate of which female voters are 138,690 and male voters are 16,984. Most of the constituency has seen commercialisation in the past two decades. Pune’s famous commercial areas like Laxmi Road, Tulsibaug, Ravivar Peth, or famous temples like Sarasbaug, Kasba Ganpati, Dagadu Seth, Tambdi Jogeshwari are part of the seat. Kasba has been a stronghold of BJP since 1995. The elections here were necessitated due to demise of BJP legislator Mukta Tilak.
Politically, it is a significant election for the BJP and the Congress as the latter tries hard to wrest the seat it once controlled till early 1990s. The cohesiveness in the campaign showed by the MVA allies, participation of leaders like Sharad Pawar, and a strong candidate in Dhangekar made the Congress looked like a serious contender. On the saffron side, the elections are more important to Chief Minister Shinde than his deputy Devendra Fadnavis as the positive outcome can strengthen his position post rebellion and he may see more defections from the Shiv Sena.
