Pune Lok Sabha election 2024: BJP, Congress locked in straight fight

A total of 298 candidates are in the fray with the Beed constituency having the highest number of candidates at 41.

Voting is underway in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra as 11 constituencies exercise their franchise. Out of the 11 constituencies, three of them–Pune, Shirur and Maval— are in Pune district.

The electoral contest in Pune is set to be a straight fight between the BJP and the Congress.

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The BJP is banking on some of the big-ticket projects either undertaken during the last few years or slated to be launched in the coming year.

After the death of MP Girish Bapat, the BJP fielded former mayor Murlidhar Mohol while Congress has pitted MLA Ravindra Dhangekar, who had defeated the BJP in Kasba assembly bypoll last year. Vasant More is another prominent candidate who is there in the election fray and is contesting the elections on a Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) candidate.

The Maval constituency has been a Shiv Sena bastion. In 2009, Gajanan Babar of the Shiv Sena had won the seat. In 2014 and 2019, Shrirang Barne won the seat. He is facing Sanjog Waghere of the Shiv Sena (UBT) who is a former mayor of Pimpri-Chinchwad. The main fight in Shirur constituency is between sitting MP and actor Amol Kolhe of the NCP (SP) and former MP Shivajirao Adhalrao-Patil, who switched over from the Shiv Sena to Ajit Pawar’s NCP to contest the Lok Sabha elections.

Pune Lok Sabha constituency is an urban constituency comprising Marathas, Brahmins, Scheduled Castes, and Muslims. The seat comprises six assembly constituencies - Kothrud, Kasba Peth, Shivajinagar, Wadgaonsheri, Pune Cantonment and Parvati. Out of the six, the BJP has MLAs in four assembly constituencies, while the Congress and NCP hold one each.

A total of 298 candidates are in the fray with the Beed constituency having the highest number of candidates at 41, while Nandurbar has the lowest number at 11.