This is an archive article published on January 31, 2023
Chances of unopposed elections diminish as Ajit Pawar says NCP firm on a contest
The Congress has said that it is firm on holding a contest for Kasba seat. “Our party is already in poll mode. Besides me, there are at least five to six strong claimants for the seat,” said Arvind Shinde, Congress Pune unit president.
Besides Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, CM Eknath Shinde, who heads the Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena, too has cited the state's political tradition of an unopposed election. (Express Photo)
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Chances of unopposed elections diminish as Ajit Pawar says NCP firm on a contest
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THE chances of an unopposed election for both Chinchwad and Kasba bypoll have all but disappeared. Following the Congress and the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has also made it clear that it is in favour of a contest and in no mood to give up the seat easily.
“I am firm on contest in both the seats,” NCP leader Ajit Pawar told reporters in Mumbai on Tuesday. Pawar said he would hold a discussion with party MLAs and MLCs on Thursday and Friday to decide the future course of action. “I will also be meeting MVA leaders in this connection,” Pawar added.
Ajit Pawar said there are eight to nine aspirants for Chinchwad seat. “A final decision regarding the candidate will be taken after discussion with MVA leaders,” he said.
“We are in favour of a contest. They (BJP) had fielded candidates in the past in three places after the death of the sitting MLAs. They did not follow the tradition…” Pawar said, referring to the norm in Maharashtra politics as part of which opposition parties withdraw their candidates if a relative of a deceased MLA is fielded from the same seat.
Kasba Peth seat has been traditionally contested by the Congress which has been in alliance with the NCP in the state. The NCP has been contesting the Chinchwad seat since it came into being in 2009.
The BJP, for its part, has been trying to ensure unopposed election to the seat, reminding the opposition of a recent bypoll in Andheri East where it did not field a candidate. Besides Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, CM Eknath Shinde, who heads the Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena, too has cited the state’s political tradition of an unopposed election.
Rejecting the ruling alliance’s logic of unopposed election, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said that since the BJP had not followed the “political tradition” in the state, the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) too would not do so. “In fact, they had put all kinds of hurdles for Shiv Sena candidate in the Andheri East elections…Therefore, they (BJP) cannot expect us to follow the tradition, something they have been flouting themselves,” Raut told The Indian Express.
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The Congress has said that it is firm on holding a contest for Kasba seat. “Our party is already in poll mode. Besides me, there are at least five to six strong claimants for the seat,” said Arvind Shinde, Congress Pune unit president.
NCP leader and former State Home Minister Dilip Walse-Patil said the MVA will unitedly take a call on who should contest in the bypolls. “There is no rift in the MVA…We will unitedly take the decision as to who should contest both the seats,” he said.
BJP Pimpri-Chinchwad president Mahesh Landge said since the MVA leaders have been raising their voice against unopposed election for both the seats, his party too has started preparing for the polls. “Our state party leadership has already given us the directions to get ready for the poll. Accordingly, we have started our mission…We are confident of victory,” Landge said.
Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.
Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives.
Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees.
During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa.
Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died.
Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More
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