As the counting is underway in the Pune Lok Sabha seat along with all other seats in the country, Pratibha Dhangekar, wife of Congress' Pune candidate Ravindra Dhangekar, expressed confidence in his victory.
While speaking to FPJ, she said, "Like every other candidate, Dhangekar is trailing and leading, but the final victory will be his, and he will go to the Lok Sabha (Dhangekar saab Lok Sabha janewale hain)."
She also praised the other two candidates, BJP's Murlidhar Mohol and VBA's Vasant More, who are Dhangekar's PMC fellow corporators. However, she said, "But Dhangekar's work is not limited to just one part of the city like Kothrud and Katraj; he works for people from all parts of the Lok Sabha seat."
Constituency at glance
Since 1952, a Congress fortress 10 times, the Pune Lok Sabha seat had deserted the party on at least 7 occasions, aligning with some prevalent political 'wave' or a prominent candidate.
The city has sent four union ministers from here - NV Gadgil, Mohan Dharia, VN Gadgil, Suresh Kalmadi, besides a High Commissioner to the UK, NG Goray.
In the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the BJP's Anil Shirole won the seat from the two-time Congress MP Kalmadi who came under a cloud of corruption, and in 2019, Bapat defeated Congress rival Mohan Joshi.
Who Is Ravindra Dhangekar?
Dhangekar gained prominence in 2022 when he achieved an unexpected victory in the Kasba Peth bypolls, a stronghold of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
A former Shiv Sena member, Dhangekar entered politics under the influence of Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray's inspiring speeches. He was a devoted follower of Raj Thackeray during his tenure with the Sena and later joined him in the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). Dhangekar contested civic elections for the first time in 1997 and emerged victorious. Subsequently, he served as a corporator five times until 2022.
Current trend
Pune is one of the keenly watched Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra. According to the Election Commission of India (ECI) website, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Murlidhar Mohol is leading by 18,993 votes over Congress nominee Ravindra Dhangekar as per the current update. Currently, Mohol has 87,125 votes while Dhangekar has 68,132.
