Even before the counting of votes had started, a banner had been put up in Pune declaring Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ganesh Bidkar’s victory and congratulating him on becoming the city’s new mayor.
Bidkar, who is a former mayor of Pune, was appointed as the election chief for the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) by the saffron party. He contested from Ward No. 24 (Kasba Peth–Kamala Nehru Hospital–KEM Hospital) against Pranav Dhangekar, son of Shiv Sena leader Ravindra Dhangekar. This is considered one of the most prestigious contests in Pune, as Dhangekar has repeatedly targeted Bidkar in the past.
Ward No. 24 saw a voter turnout of 54.75%. A total of 35,964 voters cast their votes, which included 18,609 male voters, 17,354 female voters and one transgender voter.
Meanwhile, polling took place in Pune for 163 seats, as two BJP candidates, Manjusha Nagpure and Shrikant Jagtap from Ward No. 35, were already elected unopposed.
Ranjan Kumar Sharma, Joint Commissioner of Police, said that overall polling in Pune on Thursday was peaceful, barring seven to eight complaints of money distribution and chaos at some polling booths over claims of bogus voting.
Poll officials said that 26 control units and 76 ballot units were replaced following technical glitches. The CUs and BUs were replaced swiftly and the polling process continued, they added.
