PMC and PCMC finally gear up for polls after a nine-year wait

In the 2017 elections, the BJP dethroned the NCP-Congress alliance in the Pimpri-Chinchwad civic body.

In the previously held elections of PMC, all the political parties had contested independently and the BJP had won 97 seats with their tally reaching 100 seats with the help of Independents.

With the State Election Commission finally announcing the much-delayed municipal corporation elections in the state, the Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad civic bodies will witness the election a good nine years since the last elections, which were held in 2017.

The announcement of the civic elections was made by State Election Commissioner Dinesh Waghmare in Mumbai, on Monday afternoon. The polling will be held on January 15 while the counting will be held on January 16. The nomination forms have to be filed between December 23 and December 30.

The terms of both PMC and PCMC general body had ended in 2022. However, after the matter went to the Supreme Court regarding reservation for OBCs, the elections were put on hold. The state government then appointed administrators for the PMC and PCMC and other civic bodies in the state whose term had ended.

Battle for PMC

The civic elections for the city will elect a 165-member body with 83 seats reserved for women as per the state government rule and 82 seats for the general category. The corporators will be elected from 41 wards, with four from 40 electoral wards and five from one electoral ward.

A total of 35,51,469 voters registered as on July 1 are eligible to vote for the civic polls. However, the PMC administration has found around three lakh voters with double entry in the electoral roll. The electoral roll had become a controversial issue with political parties demanding for correction to ensure fair elections.

In the previously held elections of PMC, all the political parties had contested independently and the BJP had won 97 seats with their tally reaching 100 seats with the help of Independents. It dislodged the NCP which ruled the civic body for ten years from 2007 to 2017.

Ahead of 2017 civic polls, the BJP in Pune was very upbeat after it had won all the eight assembly seats and Pune Lok Sabha seat in 2014. However, the BJP lost two of the eight assembly seats in the 2019 assembly election but retained six assembly seats and Pune Lok Sabha seat. In 2024, the BJP again won six assembly seats and Pune Lok Sabha seat.
PCMC fight

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In the 2017 elections, the BJP dethroned the NCP-Congress alliance in the Pimpri-Chinchwad civic body.

Now as PCMC is slated to witness another election, officials said they were geared for the big show.

”We are ready for the elections…Only this morning we released the final voters’ list. The total number of voters in Pimpri-Chinchwad who get the right to exercise their franchise is 17 lakh,” said Sachin Jadhav, election officer in PCMC. ”The total expenditure for every candidate is fixed at 13 lakh,” Jadhav said, adding that the election code of conduct came into force as soon as the press conference of the Election Commission ended in Mumbai.

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