As the voting began in the prestigious seat of Pune, family of former mayor and BJP's Pune Lok Sabha candidate Murlidhar Mohol did his 'aukshan' (act of waving a lit lamp or camphor in circular motions) on Monday.
The Congress has fielded the OBC leader Dhangekar for the prestigious Pune Lok Sabha seat to grapple with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s Murlidhar Mohol, its Maratha face and an ex-Mayor.
Voting for Pune Lok Sabha Polls is underway in city along with Maval and Shirur seats. In Pune, Mohol is facing not just Congress' Ravindra Dhangekar but also VBA's Vasant More.
Despite any perceptible 'wave' in 2024, Mohol, on several occasions, said that he is confident about his victory.
Meanwhile, in the video posted by ANI, wife, mother and other relatives in Mohol's family were seen doing his Aukshan.
Here's what Mohol say
In the morning, speaking with ANI, Mohol said, "I want to urge everyone to come out in large numbers and vote... Punekars understands the thoughts and role of their candidate well and also the vision they have for Pune. Seeing this, I know that the people of Pune stand with me... I have been active in Pune through the various roles I have played and various posts that I have held over the last 30 years. I have pledged to make Pune the best city in India and I have also shared my plans with the people..."
Constituency at glance
Known as the cultural, academic and IT capital of the state, Pune Lok Sabha has six assembly seats of which four are held by BJP, one by ruling ally NCP and one by Congress.
They are BJP's Pune Cantonment-SC (MLA Sunil Kamble), Parvati (MLA Madhuri Misal), Kothrud (MLA Chandrakant Patil) and Shivajinagar (MLA Siddharth Shirole); NCP's Wadgaon-Sheri (MLA Sunil Tingre), and Congress' Kasba Peth (MLA Ravindra Dhangekar). Out of which, Dhangekar won the seat in a bypoll.
Incidentally, all three main candidates - Dhangekar, Mohol and More - were once corporators of Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), one of the biggest corporations in the country, and have their fingers on the public pulse equally.
