Nominations for mayoral polls in Pune to be filed today; BJP has highest aspirants, NCP likely to be backed by Sena

Out of the 164 councillors in Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), 97 are from the BJP

Candidates from political parties will file their nominations for mayoral polls on Monday with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seeing a huge number of aspirants for the post.

The PMC headquarters in Pune.Although the BJP has a clear majority, NCP will also field its candidate to avoid it from being a one-sided contest. The NCP candidate is likely to be backed by the Shiv Sena (PICTURE FOR REPRESENTATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY)

Aspirants will have to file their nominations on November 18 from 11am to 1pm and the mayoral election will be held and results will be declared on November 22 at 11 am.

Out of the 164 councillors in Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), 97 are from the BJP.

From the BJP, some of the front runners are those candidates who were not given a ticket during the assembly elections including Murlidhar Mohol, Hemant Rasane, Dheeraj Ghate, Rajendra Shilimkar, Sushil Mengde and Deepak Pote.

Although the BJP has a clear majority, NCP will also field its candidate to avoid it from being a one-sided contest. The NCP candidate is likely to be backed by the Shiv Sena.

Currently, Mukta Tilak is the mayor in Pune and for the upcoming election, the general open category has been reserved for the mayor’s post. This has opened a wider window for almost all leading party leaders in the city to claim their chance.