The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
BJP ends NCP’S 10-year rule in Pune
THE BJP on Thursday ended the Sharad Pawar-led NCP’S 10-year-long reign in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and adjoining Pimpri-chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC). The NCP managed to keep the BJP from gaining power in Pune zilla parishad.
The BJP won 98 of the 162 seats in the PMC, managing a near-majority. In the 128member PCMC, it won 77 seats. In the 2012 elections, the BJP had won 26 seats in the PMC and only three seats in PCMC.
Months before the civic poll dates were announced, the BJP had sharpened its focus on PMC and PCMC. It had brought in many senior leaders for this initiative, with Chief Minister Devendra Fadanavis leading from the front in the campaign to take on the NCP on its home turf. BJP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Kakade and party legislator Laxman Jagtap were given the task of inducting disgruntled leaders from other parties in the BJP. The strategy worked, with most of these candidates emerging as winners.
The fight for power in the PMC, which many had expected to be a close one, became a one-sided affair, with the NCP winning only 38 seats in the civic body and 36 seats in the PCMC. In the 2012 civic elections, the NCP had won 51 seats in the PMC and 83 in the PCMC. The Shiv Sena came third in the PMC, with 10 seats, and the Congress won nine seats. It had won 28 seats in 2012. The Shiv Sena was in third position in PCMC, winning nine seats. The Congress drew a blank.
“It's a vote against corruption and vote in favour of transparency and good governance,” said MLA Jagtap, the president of BJP'S Pimpri-chinchwad unit.
The results of the Pune zilla parishad and panchayat samiti elections were the only saving grace for the NCP in Pune district, with the party securing a comfortable victory.
The NCP secured 44 seats in the 75-member Pune zilla parishad, while the Shiv Sena was the runner-up with 13 seats. The BJP came a distant third, winning seven seats. The Congress also managed to win seven seats. The NCP, in fact, won two seats more than it did in the 2012 civic polls. In the panchayat samiti election, the NCP won 78 seats, followed by the Sena, which won 32 seats. The BJP and Congress won 17 and 16 seats, respectively.