Bharatiya Janata Party

Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation

BJP

PCMC

PMC

NCP

Supriya Sule

Punekars may have given CM Devendra Fadnavis’ rally a miss , but in the end, they voted for his party. In a shocking upset,comfortably won both the Pune Municipal Corporation and thetoday. The Nationalist Congress Party, that had been in power at both civic bodies for the past 10 years, found itself thoroughly routed by its rival. At last count,had won 58 seats inand 89 seats inwhilefound itself with only 29 and 30 seats respectively.As counting began at 10 am, BJP quickly took the lead in PMC but the NCP continued to hold sway in PCMC. However, the tide turned in the afternoon and BJP began leading in both civic bodies. In several areas, the saffron party won all the four seats. These included PMC wards 8, 14 and 15, and PCMC wards 2, 4 and 6. Other big winners for the BJP included Vijay Shewale (PMC Ward ), the richest candidate contesting the elections, Gayatri Khadke (PMC Ward 15) and Aditya Malve and Rajashree Kale (PMC Ward 7).NCP’s biggest draws lost the polls. While city mayor Prashant Jagtap won from Wanwadi, PCMC Mayor Shakuntala Dharade lost Ward 29. RS Kumar, who had won six consecutive times, lost to Shiv Sena’s Amit Gawade in PMC Ward 20. Balasaheb Bodke, a sitting corporator, lost to Siddharth Shirole, a BJP leader and son of BJP MP Anil Shirole. Tanaji Khade and Bharati Pharande were also unsuccessful in their bids to win their seats.Apart from these two parties, no other party even came close to forming a ruling alliance. Congress, which was in alliance with the NCP at the civic bodies, was at last count leading only in 16 seats in the PMC. Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC)’s Vice President and spokesman Ratnakar Mahajan told PTI that the party’s results across the state needed to be analysed. He also said even though the elections should have been fought on local issues, it looked as if the hangover of the 2014 Lok Sabha and Assembly polls remained."The high decibel campaign by the Sena and BJP showed as if the two parties are the only alternative to each other. Due to the aggressiveness of both parties to take on each other, opposition Congress and NCP virtually did not exist," he said.NCP MPaccepted that the NCP's performance in PMC and PCMC was a setback.