Pune district has 21 Assembly constituencies, out of which 10 are rural constituencies while the urban areas of Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad make up the remaining 11. In the 2019 Assembly elections in Maharashtra, the BJP had a clear advantage in the urban areas as it won eight out of the 10 seats and the undivided NCP won the remaining three. However, in rural areas it was an opposite picture with the NCP-Congress jointly winning nine out of the 10 seats and the BJP winning only one. Nine of these 21 seats were won by a margin of less than 10,000 votes, making them extremely close contests. In the rural areas, Junnar, Indapur and Bhor were won by the NCP-Congress while Daund was won by the BJP by a margin of less than 10,000 votes. In the urban seats, Shivajinagar, Khadakwasla and Pune Cantonment were won by the BJP and Vadgaon Sheri and Hadapsar were won by the NCP by a margin of less than 10,000 votes. It will be interesting to see how these dynamics play out in the upcoming elections as the NCP split into two factions last year. The Ajit Pawar faction of the NCP has joined hands with the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena government and is contesting the elections in an alliance. Junnar MLA Atul Benke, Indapur MLA Dattatray Bharane, Vadgaon Sheri MLA Sunil Tingre and Hadapsar MLA Chetan Tupe have all joined Ajit Pawar’s faction after the split. Harshavardhan Patil, who lost Indapur to Dattatray Bharane on a BJP ticket in 2019, has joined the Sharad Pawar faction of the NCP and has been nominated to contest from Indapur.
