The saffron alliance’s vote count fell by over two lakh across the eight Assembly segments in Pune city compared to its tally in the Lok Sabha polls held barely six months ago. The party’s vote share in the state also fell to 25.70 per cent from 27.84 per cent between the two polls. The BJP had seen its fortunes rise in Pune since the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, when it won all the eight Assembly segments in the city, followed by winning 100 seats in the 2017 civic polls and coming to power in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). In the Lok Sabha elections held in April, BJP candidate Girish Bapat won by a record margin of 3.24 lakh votes. The Pune Lok Sabha seat includes the six assembly segments of Vadgaonsheri, Shivajinagar, Kothrud, Parvati, Pune Cantonment and Kasba. The party’s undisputed political reign over Pune city, however, hit a roadblock in the Assembly elections, when the party lost two of the eight seats to NCP. A closer look at the number of votes garnered by BJP in each Assembly segment shows that its vote count fell by thousands in each segment. Kothrud: This Assembly segment had given the BJP the maximum lead towards its record margin in Lok Sabha polls. While BJP state chief Chandrakant Patil won the prestige battle despite going up against the combine might of Congress, NCP and MNS, the party got 43,324 fewer votes compared to Lok Sabha elections. Kasba: Considered a BJP bastion, Pune Mayor Mukta Tilak won from this seat, but got 28,177 fewer votes than what Bapat received from this segment. Her rival, Congress’ Arvind Shinde, also polled nearly 4,000 fewer votes than the party’s tally in the Lok Sabha polls. Vadgaonsheri: BJP legislator Jagdish Mulik lost the seat to NCP candidate Sunil Tingre, and the BJP’s vote count fell by 25,137. The Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi and AIMIM candidates together got 18,000 votes. Parvati: BJP city chief and MLA Madhuri Misal retained the seat, but the party got 20,023 fewer votes compared to the Lok Sabha elections. Shivajinagar: BJP candidate Siddharth Shirole managed to win by a narrow margin of around 5,000 votes over the Congress candidate Dattatrey Bahirat. The party got 19,402 fewer votes compared to the Lok Sabha polls. The Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi and MNS candidates received 10,442 and 5,254 votes, respectively. Pune Cantonment: In another narrow victory for BJP, its candidate Sunil Kamble won by only around 5,000 votes while the BJP’s vote count fell by 15,218 votes. Third party candidates, such as those from VBA and AIMIM, helped the BJP clinch the seat in the close contest. The VBA got 10,009 votes while the AIMIM received 6,138 votes. Khadakwasla: Part of the Baramati parliamentary seat won by NCP leader Supriya Sule, BJP MLA Bhimrao Tapkir managed to scrape through with only 2,000 more votes than NCP candidate Sachin Dodke. The party, however, got 32,112 fewer votes than what Kanchan Kul, the NDA candidate against Sule in Lok Sabha polls, got. Hadapsar: This seat is part of the Shirur Lok Sabha constituency, where NCP leader Amol Kolhe had pulled off a surprise win by defeating Shiv Sena veteran Shivajirao Adhalrao-Patil in the Lok Sabha polls. The BJP got 21,576 fewer votes in this segment than what the saffron alliance won in the Lok Sabha polls.
