Pune: Shiv Sena (UBT) Leader Vasant More, Son Rupesh To Contest PMC Elections From Separate Wards

As soon as the reservation of seats for the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) elections was announced on Tuesday, several local politicians took to their social media handles and announced their candidacies.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Vasant More was one of them. He went one step ahead and announced that both he and his son would be contesting the PMC elections from separate wards.

As per the post by More's son Rupesh, he would be contesting from Ward No. 40 (Kondhwa Budruk–Yewalewadi), while his father would contest from Ward No. 38 (Balajinagar–Ambegaon–Katraj).

In Ward No. 40, the four seats are reserved for Scheduled Caste, OBC (Women), General (Women), and General, while in Ward No. 38, there are five seats reserved for OBC (Women), OBC (General), General (Women), General (Women), and General.

There are a total of 165 seats. As per the draw, 83 seats have been reserved for women. Among the 83 seats, 48 fall under the open category, 23 are reserved for OBC, 11 for Scheduled Caste (SC), and one for Scheduled Tribe (ST). Among men, 48 seats are open, 22 OBC, 11 SC, and one ST.

The PMC has a total of 41 wards, out of which 40 wards are four-member wards, while Ward No. 38 is a five-member ward.

More about Vasant More:

Before joining Shiv Sena (UBT) ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly polls in 2024, Vasant More contested the 2024 Lok Sabha elections as a candidate of the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) from Pune.

Before that, he was the city chief of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). He parted ways with the Raj Thackeray-led party after the leadership reportedly sidelined him due to what he said was local leaders misleading the party high command about him.

He was once a confidant of the MNS chief and was part of the party from the time of its inception by Raj Thackeray, who had just left the Sena.

A three-time corporator, More had unsuccessfully contested Assembly elections from the Hadapsar seat in the past on an MNS ticket.

After the MNS showed little sign of fielding him for the Lok Sabha elections, More decided to quit the party and got in touch with NCP (SP), Congress and Sena (UBT), expressing a wish to contest the Pune Lok Sabha seat. He eventually contested as a VBA candidate and bagged just over 32,000 votes.

He then met Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and expressed his desire to join the party. “I am originally from Sena and am returning to the party. There is nothing more I can say about the decision,” More said.