Pune Municipal Corporation Results: 83 Women To Lead PMC For Next Five Years; Seven Defeated Male Candidates

Pune: Women will play a decisive role in Pune’s civic governance over the next five years, with 83 women elected to the 165-seat Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) elections. Out of the 83 women, seven women candidates contested seats that were not reserved for women and emerged victorious against male opponents. This win is seen as a significant landmark, as it demonstrates voter confidence in women candidates even in open competition and challenges the perception that women succeed only due to reservations.

These election results show that 76 seats were elected via women-reserved seats, seven seats were won by women candidates who competed with men, and one seat was won by a woman candidate unopposed.

The civic election that took place on January 15 to elect 165 corporator seats across 41 wards, with 83 seats designated for women and 82 for men. The 50 per cent reservation was within the women’s quota, of which 48 seats were classified as open, 23 for Other Backward Classes (OBC), 11 for Scheduled Castes (SC), and 1 for Scheduled Tribes (ST). For men, there were 48 open seats, 22 for OBC, 11 for SC, and 1 for ST. After the election results were declared, women won the 83 reserved seats from across 41 wards.

The results reaffirm the impact of women’s reservation in local government, while it also highlights a significant breakthrough beyond quota politics, as Sangita Dangat (ST) from Ward 1, Veena Ganesh Ghosh (SC) from Ward 36, Archana Jagatap (SC) from Ward 40, Ranjana Tilekar (general) from Ward 40, Pratibha Rohidas Chorghade (general) from Ward 38, and Seema Beldare (general) and Smita Kodhre (OBC), both from Ward 38, won from non-women-reserved seats, defeating male rivals in direct contests. The participation of women in politics has been a subject of extensive discourse among people of all types, despite the fact that the city has produced several influential women leaders, but the overall political engagement among women remains poor.

For the first time in 2002, women’s reservation was introduced in PMC elections, opening the door for women candidates to contest in local governance. Since then, women have steadily claimed their space, but progress has been slow, and their participation has been seen as merely quota-based. But this year, women have shattered the quota ceiling by defeating male candidates in open contests, showing the potential of women leaders and the structural bias that still keeps most women out of non-reserved seats. The female candidates who won the elections said they want to inspire more women to join politics.

Sai Thopte, who is just 22 years old, has made history by becoming the youngest corporator in the PMC after winning in Ward No. 36 in the PMC elections. Speaking to The Free Press Journal, she said, “I feel great about this achievement at such a young age; it might also influence youngsters to enter politics and be active in social work. Also, great thanks to the higher authorities of the BJP, as well as Maharashtra Minister of State Madhuri Misal, for her support. With the win, I have responsibilities to serve. I will be working on women's skill development courses and business education and will also work for men, elders and youth. We would be more focused and work on women's empowerment and safety. And I hope that my journey may inspire more girls and women to participate in politics.”

Swarada Bapat, a comparator from ward 25, said, “I contested from the women's quota, and my experience with campaigning was actually good. There are certain limitations with the women candidates' faces in terms of working hours, and giving their presence, night campaigning, and public meetings remained difficult due to safety concerns, which are some of the restrictions their male counterparts did not face. But also, we have more access to reach door-to-door; we can even enter into the kitchens of our voters because women gel with women voters, and they know what issues are there in their wards. That gives us an upper hand during campaigning and connecting with the people.”

Even as women occupy half the seats in the PMC, the mayor’s chair remains firmly out of reach. The women corporators from the BJP, which is in a position to lead the PMC, are numerically eligible for the top civic role, yet no woman’s name has surfaced for the mayor’s post.

A senior leader of the BJP, on the condition of anonymity, said, “The BJP has won the PMC election, and now the names are doing the rounds for who will be the mayor of the city. We have around 80 female corporators, and now all the names recommended for the mayors are male. Pune has a history of female leaders, and they were seen more as decision-makers than corporators. But yes, we have a long way ahead of us to bring more women into male-dominated areas like politics.”

As the PMC elections are over, the question is no longer whether women can win elections, but whether the political system is willing to let them lead.

All Elected Women Corporators (Ward-wise)
Ward 1: Ashwini Rahul Bhandare, Sangita Sandip Dangat, Rekha Chandrakant Tingre
Ward 2: Nandini Siddharth Dhende, Sheetal Ajay Sawant
Ward 3: Dr Aishwarya Surendra Pathare, Shreyas Preetam Khandve
Ward 4: Ratnamala Sandip Satav, Tripti Santosh Bharane
Ward 5: Shweta Mukund Galande, Kavita Mahendra Galande
Ward 6: Saira Hanif Sheikh, Ashwini Daniel Landge
Ward 7: Nisha Sachin Manvatkar, Anjali Vinod Orase
Ward 8: Bhakti Ajit Gayakwad, Sapna Anand Chhajed
Ward 9: Rohini Sudhir Chimte, Mayuri Rahul Kokate
Ward 10: Rupali Sachin Pawar, Alpana Ganesh Varpe
Ward 11: Deepali Santosh Dokh, Manisha Sandeep Butala
Ward 12: Amruta Ram Kshetre, Pooja Pratul Jagade, Nivedita Gajanan Ekbote
Ward 13: Sumaiyya Mahebub Nadaf, Vaishali Nagnath Bhalerao
Ward 14: Himali Navnath Kamble, Surekha Chandrakant Kawade
Ward 15: Nanda Anil Abanave, Sarika Amit Ghule
Ward 16: Vaishali Sunil Bankar, Ujjwala Subhash Jangle
Ward 17: Hemlata Nilesh Magar, Payal Viraj Tupe
Ward 18: Kalinda Muraleedhar Punde, Komal Sameer Shendkar
Ward 19: Tasleem Hasan Sheikh, Aasiya Maniyar
Ward 20: Tanvi Prashant Diwekar, Mansi Manoj Deshpande
Ward 21: Siddhi Avinash Shilimkar, Manisha Pravin Chorbale
Ward 22: Mrunal Pandurang Kamble, Archana Tushar Patil
Ward 23: Pallavi Chandrashekhar Javal, Sonali Vanraj Andekar, Laxmi Udaykant Andekar
Ward 24: Kalpana Dilip Bahirat, Ujjwala Ganesh Yadav
Ward 25: Swapnali Nitin Pandit, Swarada Gaurav Bapat
Ward 26: Sneha Namdev Malwade, Aishwarya Samrat Thorat
Ward 27: Smita Vaste, Lata Raghunath Gaud
Ward 28: Vrushali Anand Rithe, Priya Shivaji Gadade
Ward 29: Mitali Kuldeep Sawalekar, Manjushree Sandeep Khadekar
Ward 30: Reshma Santosh Barate, Tejashree Mahesh Pawale
Ward 31: Jyotsna Jagannath Kulkarni, Vasanti Navnath Jadhav
Ward 32: Harshada Shantanu Bhosale, Sayali Rameshbhau Wanjale
Ward 33: Dhanashree Dattatraya Kolle, Anita Tukaram Ingale
Ward 34: Komal Sarang Navale, Jayshree Satyawan Bhumkar
Ward 35: Jyoti Kishor Gosavi, Manjusha Deepak Nagpure
Ward 36: Veena Ganesh Ghosh, Shailja Arun Bhosale, Sai Prashant Thopte
Ward 37: Varsha Vilas Tapkir, Tejashree Sachin Badak
Ward 38: Smita Sudhir Kodhre, Seema Yuvraj Beldare, Pratibha Rohidas Chorghade
Ward 39: Varsha Bhimrao Sathe, Rupali Dinesh Dhadwe
Ward 40: Archana Amit Jagatap, Vrushali Sunil Kamthe, Tushar Pooja Kadam, Ranjana Kundlik Tilekar
Ward 41: Prachi Ashish Alhat, Shweta Sachin Ghule

Women Who Defeated Male Candidates from Non-Women-Reserved Seats

Sangita Sandip Dangat – Ward 1 (ST Open)

Veena Ganesh Ghosh – Ward 36 (SC Open)

Archana Amit Jagatap – Ward 40 (SC Open)

Ranjana Kundlik Tilekar – Ward 40 (General Open)

Pratibha Rohidas Chorghade – Ward 38 (General Open)

Seema Yuvraj Beldare – Ward 38 (General Open)

Smita Sudhir Kodhre – Ward 38 (OBC Open)