The Mahayuti — an alliance of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Eknath Shinde's faction of Shiv Sena — has secured a landslide victory in Pune by winning 18 Assembly seats out of the 21 in the district. The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), comprising the Congress, Sharad Pawar's NCP and Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, managed to bag only two seats, while an independent won one seat in the district.
The BJP managed to retain Pune Cantonment, Shivajinagar, Parvati, Khadakwasla, Kothrud, Bhosari, Chinchwad and Daund, while it wrested the Kasba Peth Assembly seat from the Congress. Pune Cantonment will once again be represented by Sunil Kamble, Shivajinagar by Siddharth Shirole, Khadakwasla by Bhimrao Tapkir, Kothrud by Chandrakant Patil, Bhosari by Mahesh Landge and Daund by Rahul Kul. The saffron party had changed its candidate in Chinchwad, nominating its Pimpri-Chinchwad chief Shankar Jagtap instead of his sister-in-law Ashwini Jagtap, who was the incumbent MLA. He too won the seat by a handsome margin. In Kasba Peth, Ravindra Dhangekar of the Congress was the sitting MLA. He had defeated BJP's Hemant Rasane in the 2023 bypoll. However, this time Rasane clinched victory against Dhangekar in his party's bastion.
#WATCH | #Pune: BJP Workers, City Chief Dheeraj Ghate And Former MLA Jagdish Mulik, Celebrate As Party Set To Return To Power#BJP #Maharashtra #MaharashtraElectionResults #ElectionsWithFPJ #punenews pic.twitter.com/ZFIgCOVhsy
— Free Press Journal (@fpjindia) November 23, 2024
Grateful Beyond Words!
— Siddharth Shirole (@SidShirole) November 23, 2024
With immense pride and humility, I extend my heartfelt gratitude to the citizens of Chhatrapati Shivajinagar for placing their trust in me and giving me the honor of serving you once again. This resounding victory is not just mine—it belongs to every… pic.twitter.com/Bz710XDZng
NCP AP's performance
Ajit Pawar's NCP won eight seats in Pune district — Hadapsar, Pimpri, Ambegaon, Shirur, Indapur, Baramati, Bhor and Maval. In Hadapsar, the party's incumbent MLA Chetan Tupe won over NCP-SP's Pune City Chief Prashant Jagtap, while in Pimpri, Anna Bansode became an MLA for the third time. Sharad Pawar's magic failed in Ambegaon and Dilip Walse Patil secured victory once again. Ashok Pawar, the only MLA in Pune district who sided with the senior Pawar after the party split, lost from Shirur to NCP's Dnyaneshwar Katke. Dattatray Bharne once again defeated Harshvardhan Patil in Indapur, while Ajit Pawar won against his nephew Yugendra Pawar in Baramati. Congress leader Sangram Thopate lost in Bhor to NCP's Shankar Mandekar. Bhor is considered the fortress of the Thopates. Sangram Thopate had been an MLA since 2009. Thopate's father, Anantrao Thopate, served six terms as an MLA from this same seat. The Maval seat had become controversial as NCP's Sunil Shelke's nomination was opposed by the BJP. The MVA too hadn't given their candidate and instead supported NCP rebel Bapu Bhegade. However, Shelke had the last laugh.
Both Shiv Sena factions won one seat each in Pune district. Shinde faction leader Vijay Shivtare won in Purandar against Congress's Sanjay Jagtap, while Shiv Sena-UBT's Babaji Kale won in Khed Alandi, defeating NCP's sitting MLA Dilip Mohite.
NCP (SP)'s performance
The Sharad Pawar faction of the NCP was contesting a total of 13 seats in the district. However, it managed to win only one seat. NCP-SP candidate Bapusaheb Pathare defeated NCP's Sunil Tingre in Vadgaon Sheri by a slim margin.
Meanwhile, Sharad Sonawane, who contested as an independent in Junnar, won against Satyashil Sherkar of the NCP-SP and Atul Benke of the NCP. Benke was the incumbent MLA in Junnar.