A significant surge of activity is anticipated at the Pune Municipal Corporation's 15 election offices on Tuesday, marking the final opportunity for candidates to submit their nomination papers for the upcoming civic polls scheduled for January 15. The eleventh-hour rush is a direct result of major political parties strategically withholding their official candidate lists until the last moment, a tactic aimed at curbing potential defections and internal unrest.
Strategic Delays and Midnight Negotiations
Sources indicate that intense negotiations over seat-sharing agreements between alliance partners continued well into Monday night. This delay in finalizing candidates has created a climate of uncertainty, leading to a crowded nomination process on Monday itself. According to official PMC data, a substantial 694 nomination forms were submitted on Monday, with large crowds of hopeful candidates and their supporters thronging various election offices. The administrative staff worked late into the night to process the influx and complete the necessary formalities for acceptance.
Political insiders revealed that while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) began distributing AB forms to some contenders, no major party, including the BJP, released an official, finalized list of candidates by late Monday. The Indian National Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and NCP (SP) are all expected to unveil their candidates only on Tuesday, the final nomination day.
A Game of Political Musical Chairs
The strategy of last-minute announcements has already triggered a wave of defections, as several seasoned politicians and former corporators switched allegiances after failing to secure tickets from their original parties. Prominent among these are Dhananjay Jadhav and former corporator Shankar Pawar, who moved from the BJP to the NCP. In a reciprocal move, Datta Bahirat left the Congress to join the BJP.
A senior BJP leader confirmed the tactical reasoning behind the delay, stating, "The announcement was postponed to the last day specifically to prevent possible defections. With more than 2,300 aspirants vying for tickets, some sitting corporators are likely to be dropped. The final picture will only become clear by Tuesday afternoon." Similarly, NCP politicians reported being approached by numerous leaders and former corporators on Monday as the party worked to finalize its list.
Parallel Scene at Pimpri Chinchwad
The nomination narrative was mirrored in the neighboring Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC), where the filing process also began on Monday with Tuesday as the deadline. Election officials reported that 325 nominations were submitted on the first day. Notable among the early filers was NCP's Nana Kate, who submitted his papers along with his wife. Meanwhile, alliance talks between the BJP and Shiv Sena for the PCMC polls have reportedly hit another roadblock, with the parties struggling to agree on a seat-sharing formula.
As the clock ticks down to the nomination deadline on Tuesday, Pune's political landscape remains in flux. The election offices are bracing for a heavy rush as aspirants, backed by last-minute party confirmations, make a final dash to enter the electoral fray for the 41 wards of the PMC.
