As NCP eyes Pune LS seat, Ajit Pawar cites party’s performance

‘I was thinking that bypoll for Pune Lok Sabha seat will not take place considering the general elections are a year from now. However, there is a possibility of bypoll for the seat that got vacated due to death of sitting BJP MP Girish Bapat,” Pawar said, adding that he has inside information to the effect. He said the decision on who should contest Pune Lok Sabha bypoll in the MVA should be decided on the basis of strength of the respective party at local level.

“The strength of the party should be decided on their performance in previous civic and assembly election,” Pawar said.

The NCP had emerged as the second largest party in the 2017 Pune Municipal Corporation polls. BJP had emerged on top while the Congress was relegated to the third spot.

In the 2019 assembly elections, the Congress has only one legislator from the city which it won recently while NCP had won two seats. City NCP chief Prashant Jagtap has openly expressed his wish to contest Pune Lok Sabha seat while senior party leader Deepak Mankar is also interested to try his luck.

On the other hand, the Congress has been insisting that the Pune Lok Sabha seat has been traditionally contested by the party and will continue to do so. Congress leaders Mohan Joshi and Ravindra Dhangekar are among the few claimants for party candidature for Pune Lok Sabha seat.

“Any decision on election is taken at the higher level. We have already conveyed to the state leaders that the Congress will continue to contest Pune Lok Sabha seat as NCP has been contesting all the remaing Lok Sabha seats in Pune district,” said a Congress leader. In an indication that the Pune Lok Sabha bypoll may be announced soon, the district election office recently conducted a mock polling. Bapat passed away on March 29 this year. He was elected to the Lok Sabha in May 2019 after defeating Mohan Joshi of Congress. As per the law, a Lok Sabha seat cannot remain vacant for more than six months.

The Pune Lok Sabha bypoll assumes significance as the general election is barely a year away and the outcome of the byelections will set the tone for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.