3 min readPuneFeb 23, 2026 03:57 PM IST
First published on: Feb 23, 2026 at 03:57 PM IST
Political drama unfolded during the election of the chairperson of the standing committee of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) Monday, with the Opposition NCP staging a walkout after the nomination of its candidate was rejected by the election officer, and the BJP candidate was elected unopposed to the post.
Bureaucrat Satishkumar Khade was the Returning Officer for the election.
The BJP had fielded corporator Srinath Bhimale for the post of chairperson, while the NCP fielded Suhas Tingre. The deadline for filing nominations was till 1 pm on February 18. It has been alleged that Tingre reached the civic office on time but filed his nomination at 1.01 pm.
“Two nominations were received for the election of chairperson of the standing committee. The first was of Srinath Bhimale of the BJP, which was before the deadline. Second was that of NCP corporator Suhas Tingre, but it was submitted after the deadline, so it is being rejected,” announced Khade.
This led to a protest from the NCP, with former mayor and NCP corporator Vaishali Bankar saying it was wrong to reject the nomination of Tingre, as they had arrived at the office before the deadline.
“The BJP is majority in the standing committee and was sure to get its candidate elected as chairperson, but not enabling the Opposition to contest for the post is wrong,” said former mayor and Congress corporator Prashant Jagtap.
The 16-member standing committee was constituted last week, with seats distributed according to the strength of political parties in the house: BJP: 13; Nationalist Congress Party (NCP): 2; and Congress: 1.
The standing committee is responsible for making financial decisions for the civic body. The chairperson, whose term is for one year, tables the civic budget in the general body. The upcoming 2026-27 budget, currently being finalised by the civic administration, will soon be presented to the committee. The committee deliberates on tax proposals, municipal loans, and service fees. It also holds the power to approve funding for infrastructure and development projects across the city.
The civic general body earlier elected Manjusha Nagpure of the BJP as mayor and Parshuram Wadekar, also from the BJP, as deputy mayor.
The PMC had been under administrator rule since March 2022, following the expiration of the previous five-year term. After a nearly four-year break, the city held its much-awaited civic elections on January 15, 2026, to elect 165 corporators across 41 wards.
The BJP won 119 elected corporator seats in the PMC, while the NCP secured 27 seats, the Congress 15, the NCP (SP) three, and the Shiv Sena (UBT) one.
The trees fall under RFD stretches 1, 2 and 3 within the PMC jurisdiction. (File Photo) 
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