As the counting progresses on Friday, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) seems to be indicating a BJP win as Ajit-Sharad Pawar's reunion failed to bring impact. BJP is ahead in 52 seats in Pune, Ajit Pawar’s NCP is ahead only in 5 seats, while Sharad Pawar’s NCP is leading in 2 seats.
Both factions of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) had joined hands for the first time since they split in 2023, eyeing the PMC's win.
Meanwhile, the Congress, allying with the Thackeray brothers, is not leading in any wards. The Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, which contested the elections solo, is also not leading in any wards.
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The BJP is also leading in the Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, and Sangli civic bodies in the western Maharashtra region.The BJP had single-handedly held power in the previous five-year terms from 2017 to 2022 in Pune and PCMC civic bodies.
BJP is contesting independently against Mahayuti partners, the NCP and Shiv Sena, in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad.
Under a multi-member ward system, each municipal ward elects three or four corporators rather than a single representative. PMC has 41 wards.
In terms of the voting percentage, the State Election Commission (SEC), Pune, has recorded a low voter turnout of nearly 54 per cent. In 2017, PMC recorded a voter turnout of 55.45 per cent. The BJP had won a clear majority by securing 97 seats then.
In a significant political turn of events ahead of the elections, Uddhav and Raj Thackeray reunited last month even as rival NCP factions forged a local alliance in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad. However, they don’t seem to have made much impact in general.
Elections to the 29 municipal corporations were held after a gap of several years, with terms of most of them having ended between 2020 and 2023. Of these, nine fall in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), the most urbanised belt in India.
