Pune, April 19: Elections in Pune will be held in the fourth phase of the Lok Sabha elections on May 13. The Pune-City seat is a straight contest between the BJP and the Congress. The Congress candidate is Ravindra Dhangekar while the BJP candidate is Murlidhar Mohol.
The last LS polls in 2019 saw the BJP win through the Late Girish Bhalchandra Bapat who polled 632,835 votes with a 61.1% vote share, defeating the Indian National Congress candidate Mohan Joshi who secured 308,207 votes with a 29.8% vote share. Anil Narayan Jadhav of Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi (VBA) got 64,793 votes with a 6.3% vote share.
This time the fight between the Congress and the BJP is expected to be tough and the margin of victory may not be that huge. Muslims make up around 3.5 lakh voters in Pune. The Congress is expecting a big chunk of Muslim votes. However, with the Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM fielding a Muslim candidate – Anees Sundke for the Pune Lok Sabha constituency, the Congress is a bit worried as the AIMIM candidate is bound to pull some votes away from the Congress.
Anees is a former corporator and a well-known name in the Muslim community in Pune.
In Maharashtra, there are mainly three combinations in the fray. The BJP+ Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) + NCP (Ajit Pawar) called Mahayuti. The Congress + NCP (Sharad Pawar) + Shiv Sena (Uddhav Bal Thackeray) called MVA (Maha Vikas Aghadi) and the Prakash Ambedkar led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA).
The Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) has not joined MVA and fielded its candidate, Vasant More for Pune. This is bound to cut into the Dalit vote base of the Congress. Thus with the Dalit and Muslim votes being split, the Congress has a rough ride ahead.
Naturally, there are allegations against AIMIM for trying to help the BJP by dividing the Muslim votes. A charge that is always denied because as a political party, they cannot stay away from elections and have to train their cadres for all elections.
In case of a BJP victory in Pune, if the AIMIM candidate polls more votes than the margin of victory between the BJP and the Congress, it cannot be refuted that the AIMIM facilitated the BJP victory. But there is little likelihood of such an eventuality.
