BJP and Congress Face Off In Key Pune Assembly Seats
BJP and Congress Face Off In Key Pune Assembly Seats
Pune, October 29, 2024 – As the election season heats up, a direct battle between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress is shaping up for three significant assembly seats in Pune City: Kasba Peth, Shivajinagar, and Pune Cantonment.
In Kasba Peth, incumbent Congress MLA Ravindra Dhangekar is set to contest against BJP’s Hemant Rasane. This match-up echoes the 2022 bypoll, where Dhangekar emerged victorious. BJP Pune City Chief Dheeraj Ghate has publicly expressed dissatisfaction over not being nominated for the seat, while Kunal Tilak, son of the late Mukta Tilak, who previously held the MLA position, was also in contention for the BJP ticket.
In Shivajinagar, BJP’s sitting MLA Siddharth Shirole will once again face Congress’s Datta Bahirat. The 2019 elections saw Bahirat narrowly lose to Shirole by approximately 5,200 votes. This constituency has witnessed significant interest, with around 12 aspirants, including Congress candidates Manish Anand and Sunny Nimhan. Nimhan, a former BJP corporator and the son of ex-MLA Vinayak Nimhan, expressed interest in running from Shivajinagar.
Meanwhile, Pune Cantonment sees Congress fielding loyalist Ramesh Bagwe, a former Minister of State for Home, against sitting BJP MLA Sunil Kamble. Historically, this seat has favored Congress, with Bagwe having been elected in both 2004 and 2009. However, the BJP shifted the tide in 2014 and retained the seat in 2019 with Kamble. This constituency, reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates, has approximately 290,000 voters.
As the election date approaches, these three seats are likely to be crucial battlegrounds in Pune’s political landscape.
