EVEN as the voting process for the PCMC poll was completed late Thursday afternoon and the counting process is scheduled to begin at 10 am at eight centers on Friday, the BJP Pimpri-Chinchwad unit hopes to return with a landslide majority. On the other hand, the NCP, whose aggressive campaign was led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, is hoping to put up a good fight and is seeking support from the Shiv Sena and independents to dethrone itself from power in the PCMC.
“Despite the kind of campaign carried out by the NCP, the BJP will return to power… We hope that at least 100 of our candidates win,” BJP’s Chinchwad MLA Shankar Jagtap told this newspaper minutes after the election process ended.
The BJP rules out the possibility of Ajit Pawar’s campaign having a major impact on the polls. “I don’t think his campaign will affect our chances of returning to power. Anyway, we are returning to power and in a much better way than in the 2017 elections,” Jagtap said.
In the 2017 elections, the BJP won 78 wards. Otherwise, in every election since the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation was created in 1986, the BJP has struggled to even reach the double-digit mark. In the 2017 elections, he changed strategy, imported several PNC leaders and obtained a gross majority.
Shatrughan Kate, president of the Pimpri-Chinchwad BJP unit, said, “The NCP might have managed to liven up the election campaign, but the people of Pimpri-Chinchwad are well aware of the development that the BJP brought to the city. And hence, we are hopeful of repeating our performance in the 2017 elections. I am expecting victory in 80 wards. It could go even further. Ajit Pawar’s campaign will certainly not affect our chances of returning to power. The BJP “He will return to power and return strong.”
BJP’s Bhosari MLA Mahesh Landge, who was targeted by Ajit Pawar during his campaign, said, “Thanks to our development projects and welfare measures implemented by the central and state governments, we have full confidence of regaining power in the PCMC. No matter what some people have said or made statements, they have failed to convince the voters. This is because the voters themselves are aware of the way the BJP worked for the development of the industrial city. We will continue in the same vein in our next term. as good.”
On the other hand, NCP Pimpri-Chinchwad president Yogesh Behl said, “I don’t want to make exaggerated claims. We will win at least 50 seats. And with the help of Shiv Sena, led by Eknath Shinde that is contesting 60 seats and some independents, we hope to regain the power we lost in 2017.”
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The NCP had won only 36 seats in the 2017 elections and lost power to the BJP. Otherwise, the PCNC and the Congress had ruled the PCMC since 1986.
Unlike Behl, another NCP leader Ajit Gavhane, who was allotted the 46 wards of Bhosari area by the Deputy Chief Minister, said, “The way our president Ajit Pawar campaigned across Pimpri-Chinchwad, has created quite a stir in the industrial city. The atmosphere is clearly in our favor and we will win majority of the seats. Wait till tomorrow to see our winning result.”
Early in the morning, as voting progressed, Rohit Pawar, NCP (SP) MLA, seemed confident of his victory thanks to Ajit Pawar’s aggressive campaigning. “The BJP is scared because it is losing… Ajit Pawar has exposed its misdeeds and mistakes. Voters have realized its folly… NCP will return to power.” Both NCPs had forged an alliance for the PCMC elections.
From January 2, when he held his first press conference and made corruption allegations until the last day of campaigning on January 13, Ajit Pawar continued to make corruption allegations against the BJP government in Pimpri-Chinchwad. He specifically targeted Mahesh Landge, while Rohit Pawar in his couple of rallies targeted both the BJP MLAs in Pimpri-Chinchwad. In his press conferences and rallies, Ajit Pawar called for toppling the BJP and returning the NCP to power to ensure a corruption-free regime in the PCMC.
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Meanwhile, the PCMC election office said the counting process will begin at 8 places on Friday morning at 10 am PCMC election officer Shravan Hardikar said that only those people who have been issued identity cards by the election office will be allowed to enter the counting centres.
The counting centers will be at Hegdewar Bhavan, Pradhikaran, Auto Cluster, Chinchwad, Sant Dnyaneshwar Krida Sankul Indrayani Nagar, ”D’ divisional office, Rahatni, Ankushrao Landge auditorium, Bhosari, Gharkul-Chikhli town hall, Kamgar Bhavan, Thergaon and Kasarwadi vegetable market.