Assembly elections: As candidates file their nomination in Pune, political rallies throw traffic out of gear

With top political leaders rallying across the city on Thursday to file their nominations for the October 21 Assembly elections, traffic was thrown out of gear in

With top political leaders rallying across the city on Thursday to file their nominations for the October 21 Assembly elections, traffic was thrown out of gear in many areas causing severe inconvenience to commuters.

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All eight candidates of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) filed their nominations by holding a roadshow and candidates from other parties as well exhibited their strength through rallies which caused traffic jams on major roads, especially the peth areas.

A mega rally by BJP state unit president Chandrakant Patil, created chaos at Karve road during peak hours. Commuters had to face a kilometre-long traffic jam as vehicles moved at a snail’s pace. “The BJP’s roadshow began at 9am and since it was peak hour, all roads were blocked. Karve road has been facing traffic congestion due to the ongoing metro work, and this rally added to our woes,” said Murgnak Pednekar, a daily commuter.

Another onlooker said that the traffic congestion worsened as supporters of the candidates tried to enter the rally on their two-wheelers.

Peth areas in the city, prominently Kasba peth, from where mayor Mukta Tilak filed her nomination papers with her supporters, witnessed huge traffic congestion.

Avinash Thorat, a commuter, said, “My experience at Shivajinagar chowk was pathetic as the rally started in the afternoon. The long traffic jam disrupted our daily schedule. Traffic management was a complete failure as there was a jam from Shivajinagar chowk to Pune RTO chowk. ”

There was a bottleneck at Shivajinar chowk at 11:30 am, when Siddharth Shirole, son of former BJP MP Anil Shirole, stepped out with his party supporters to file his nomination papers.