Pune PMC, PCMC civic poll results: Will Pawars dent BJP's dominance? What to watch out for on counting day

Credit: X / @PMCPune

• Voting underway for PMC, PCMC, and 28 other municipal bodies in Maharashtra
• Results to be declared on January 16, counting starts at 10 am
• NCP factions reunite, toughening BJP contest in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad

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Voting is underway for the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) elections. Civic elections are also being held today in 28 other municipal corporations across Maharashtra. These are the first local body elections in the state after a gap of nearly nine years, with the last polls held in 2017.

As voters queued up at polling booths from early morning to cast their ballots, political parties and their supporters are watching closely to see whether shifting alliance equations would deliver the numbers they are hoping for.

When will results be declared?

The State Election Commission has announced that counting of votes will take place on January 16, starting at 10 am. Results for PMC, PCMC, and the other 28 civic bodies will be declared the same day.

Notably, Pune follows multiple member ward system. In this, each municipal ward elects three or four corporators, instead of one. For example, the Pune Municipal Corporation has 41 wards. Each ward elects four corporators, and the general body has 162 members. So each voter casts multiple votes.

All about PMC and PCMC elections

In the Pune Municipal Corporation elections, 1,165 candidates are contesting across 41 wards for 165 seats. Around 35.51 lakh voters are eligible to decide the fate of these candidates.

In Pimpri-Chinchwad, 128 seats across 32 wards are up for grabs. The PCMC has a voter base of 17,13,891 electors, who will choose their representatives.

The last PMC elections were held on February 21, 2017, with a voter turnout of 55.45 per cent. At that time, 1,090 candidates were in the fray.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won a clear majority by securing 97 seats. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) came second with 39 seats, followed by Shiv Sena with 10 and Congress with nine seats. Other parties and Independents shared the remaining seats.

Mukta Tilak of the BJP was elected mayor, while Navanth Kamble became deputy mayor. In terms of vote share, the BJP secured 36.67 per cent, NCP 21.94 per cent, and Congress 8.63 per cent.

Once considered a stronghold of deputy CM Ajit Pawar, PCMC is also witnessing the main contest between the BJP and the alliance between the two NCP factions.

What’s at stake for the parties?

Nearly two and a half years after the NCP split in 2023, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the NCP (Sharad Pawar) have come together to fight the elections together.

For Ajit Pawar, the stakes are particularly high as the municipal elections in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad will prove to be a political and personal litmus test. The deputy chief minister, who is from the Pune area, had set up camp in both cities, supervising the selection of candidates and even welcoming former BJP corporators who were not given tickets.

The surprise NCP reunion has made what at first looked to be a comfortable contest for the BJP.

On the other hand, CM Devendra Fadnavis has called the NCP alliance a localised arrangement limited to a couple of municipal corporations. Speaking to the media on the final day of campaigning, Fadnavis said the two NCP factions had not formally merged and were merely contesting together to “keep their flock together” in closely fought civic races.

Fadnavis expressed confidence that the ruling Mahayuti, comprising the BJP, the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the Ajit Pawar-led NCP, would perform strongly across key urban centres, including Mumbai, Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad and Nashik.

Civic polls across Maharashtra

Apart from Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, elections are being held today in major civic bodies including Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Nagpur, Nashik, Aurangabad (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar), Kolhapur, Solapur, Amravati, and several others. The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), India’s richest civic body, is also voting today. As many as 1,729 candidates are contesting for its 227 seats.