With less than a week remaining for the crucial Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) elections, the city's political landscape is witnessing a frenzied game of musical chairs. Major political parties are locked in a last-minute scramble, aggressively inducting leaders and workers from rival camps to shore up their voter base, even as the stage is set for complex multi-cornered fights across numerous wards.
A Wave of Defections Shakes Major Parties
The defection spree shows no signs of slowing down, with significant jumps occurring even after the nomination process concluded. The Shiv Sena (UBT) camp received a substantial jolt when its official candidate from the Rambaug Colony-Shivtirthnagar ward, Balasaheb Dhanawade, crossed over to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). His induction was formalized in the presence of state cabinet minister Chandrakant Patil.
Similarly, the Congress party saw a senior functionary, Sangeeta Tiwari, defect to Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) faction just two days ago. In another blow, a Shiv Sena (UBT) functionary from Pashan, Mahesh Sutar, and a senior Congress leader, Sudhir Kale, also joined the BJP in the run-up to the polling day.
Sources within various parties indicate that more such inductions are anticipated in the final days leading to the vote.
Alliance Dynamics Fuel the Exodus
The current political realignments at the state level have directly fueled this instability at the local level. For the PMC polls, the Mahayuti alliance partners—BJP, Shiv Sena, and NCP—have decided to contest solo, pitting their candidates against each other in a significant number of wards. On the other side, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies, Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT), have an alliance, but reports suggest candidate overlap in some constituencies, creating internal friction.
Interestingly, the two rival NCP factions led by Ajit Pawar and Sharad Pawar have ditched their respective larger alliances (Mahayuti and MVA) and joined hands specifically for the civic polls, adding another layer of complexity.
A senior NCP functionary, speaking on condition of anonymity, explained, "The jumping of leaders continued post-nominations because almost all parties are contesting solo. We have seen a significant number of workers from BJP and other parties join NCP recently in Ajit Pawar's presence. Talks are ongoing with some former corporators as well."
Development Projects Lure Politicians
The defections are not merely ideological. Many politicians are switching sides with a keen eye on the development projects being executed across Pune. A BJP functionary revealed that more than six former corporators joined their ranks in the past week alone.
Notable among the recent joinings are NCP youth leader from Kothrud, Pramod Shinde, and party office-bearers Amar Kore and Vanita Jagtap, who entered the BJP in the presence of state minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule. The BJP has attracted workers from key areas like Sus-Pashan, Kothrud, and central Pune.
The list of former corporators changing allegiance is extensive and includes Sanjay Bhosale and Prithviraj Sutar from Shiv Sena (UBT), who not only joined the BJP but also secured tickets. From Congress, Datta Bahirat moved to the NCP. Other former corporators like Sayli Wanjale and Sachin Dodke jumped to the BJP, while Sandip Jarhad aligned with the NCP.
As the polling day approaches, this relentless churn of political loyalties is set to make the Pune Municipal Corporation elections one of the most unpredictable and closely watched civic battles in recent times.
