14 hours Ago By Sarang Dastane
Pune: Pune Cantonment, Shivajinagar and Kasba Peth seats, where the BJP and the Congress faced straight fights, recorded a significant rise in voting on Wednesday compared to the 2019 assembly polls among the 11 constituencies in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad. Pune Cantonment's voting jumped by 9.5% from 43.
4% five years ago to 52.9% in 2024. In Kasba Peth, it increased to 59.
3% from 2019's 51.6%, a rise of 7.64% and in Shivajinagar, the voting went up by 7.
9% from 2019's 43.9% to 51.7%.
Sources from both parties said that the increased voting will favour their candidates. Pune Cantonment and Shivajinagar seats are with the BJP, while Kasba Peth is with the Congress. In the 2019 state poll, voting turnout in Pune Cantonment and Shivajinagar was below the halfway mark.
Pune Cantonment was among the seats with the lowest turnout in the state. However, a noticeable increase in Wednesday's polling helped the constituency shed this tag. Congress leader Mohan Joshi said that the rise in voting in all three constituencies will go in favour of their candidates.
"The party came out with separate plans for every seat where it was going against the BJP. Increased voting in the seats where Congress is fighting is a hint that more votes have been polled in favour of our candidates," he said. Congress's senior leader Ramesh Bagwe is contesting against the BJP's sitting MLA Sunil Kamble in Pune Cantonment.
Kamble defeated Bagwe by a narrow margin of 5,000 votes in 2019. The party's leaders said that there was widespread unrest against the BJP which reflected in Wednesday's voting. The Pune Cantonment primarily covers the defence and Cantonment areas in the city, besides the slum pockets like Tadiwala Road, Kashewadi, Bhavani Peth, and Somwar Peth.
, which are part of the constituency. Local sources said that slum pockets have been voting in favour of Congress for many years. An increase in voting in these pockets is likely to benefit Bagwe.
A senior Congress leader said, "We not only tapped most slum pockets but also the nearby areas. Our teams were active in these places which reflected in voting. There was overall enthusiasm among voters backing Congress," he said.
In Shivajinagar, the BJP's sitting MLA Siddharth Shirole is pitted against Congress's Dattatray Bahirat. BJP functionaries claimed that sustained efforts were taken to push the voting up in Shirole's favour. However, Congress workers said that Bahirat is likely to gain more votes against the backdrop of the rise in voting this time.
Local sources from Shivajinagar said rebel candidate Manish Anand may dent Bahirat's chances to some extent despite the constituency recording an increase in voting. In Kasba Peth, the Congress pitched sitting MLA Ravindra Dhangekar against BJP's Hemant Rasne. The BJP's city unit president Dheeraj Ghate said that the party will win back the seat.
He claimed the bypoll result, which went in favour of Dhangekar, will not impact the outcome of this election. A BJP functionary said, "After the bypoll loss, the party started preparations for the assembly poll. Local units were activated.
More focus was on home visits." A supporter of Dhangekar said that the seat will remain with the Congress on the basis of the work Dhangekar has done in 18 months. Kasba Peth is the only seat among eight constituencies that was with MVA before the assembly poll.
Wadgaon Sheri records 9.2% rise Wadgaon Sheri constituency where there is an NCP vs NCP fight recorded a significant 9.24% rise in voting compared to 2019.
NCP's sitting MLA Sunil Tingre is contesting against NCP (SCP)'s Bapu Pathare. Pathare was Wadgaon Sheri's MLA from 2009 to 2014 but lost the 2014 poll against BJP's Jagdish Mulik. In 2019, when Tingre defeated Mulik, the outcome surprised many.
Local sources said that a fierce rivalry between Tingre and Pathare and intense campaigning led to an increase in voting this time. In 2019, Wadgaon Sheri recorded 47% voting which jumped to 56.2% on Wednesday.
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