Pimpri-Chinchwad: Mahayuti VS MVA Battle Intensifies In 3 Assembly Seats Of PCMC

There are three Assembly seats within the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) — Pimpri, Chinchwad and Bhosari. Currently, all the three seats are with the ruling Mahayuti. Anna Bansode of the Ajit Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is the incumbent Pimpri MLA, Ashwini Jagtap of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is the MLA from Chinchwad and Mahesh Landge, also from BJP, is the Bhosari MLA.

For the November 20 Maharashtra Assembly polls, the NCP has renominated Anna Bansode despite opposition from party leaders from the Pimpri seat. The BJP, meanwhile, has changed its Chinchwad candidate. Ashwini Jagtap's brother-in-law Shankar Jagtap, who is the saffron party's Pimpri-Chinchwad unit chief, has been given the candidature. Mahesh Landge has been renominated by the BJP from the Bhosari seat.

On the other hand, the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) is contesting all three seats on behalf of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA). Sulakshana Shilwant is the party's candidate from Pimpri, Rahul Kalate from Chinchwad and Ajit Gavhane from Bhosari.

Pimpri Assembly seat:

In Pimpri, Bansode, a two-time MLA, who won from this reserved seat in 2009 and 2019, faced opposition from within the NCP. The party's Pimpri-Chinchwad unit was upset with Bansode's style of functioning. They also cited concerns about his health and urged top party leaders to deny him the ticket. However, he was given the ticket as he is seen as a close aide of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar. Bansode will face a tough fight from Shilwant.

Chinchwad Assembly seat:

Nana Kate, an NCP leader who was keen on contesting as an independent candidate, withdrew his nomination, setting up a fight between Jagtap and Kalate in Chinchwad. Chinchwad seat has been in the Jagtap family since 2009. Laxman Jagtap was elected as the MLA thrice. However, after his passing in 2022, a bypoll was held and his wife was elected as an MLA. This time the party has nominated her brother-in-law and she has vowed to campaign for him.

Bhosari Assembly seat:

Ajit Gavhane who was with Ajit Pawar's NCP until recently switched to the NCP (SP) and secured a ticket from Bhosari. Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Ravi Landge had also filed his nomination but withdrew it later and decided to back Gavhane. Gavhane will face off against two-term MLA Mahesh Landge. In the 2014 polls, Landge ran as an independent and won, whereas in 2019, he contested on a BJP ticket and secured a massive victory with a margin of over 70,000 votes.

It will be interesting to see if the Mahayuti retains its hold in these three seats or if the MVA snatches them.