PMC Polls Show Dramatic Vote Margins in Pune
Friday's announcement of Pune Municipal Corporation election results revealed striking contrasts in victory margins. Some candidates secured comfortable wins while others barely edged past their opponents.
Largest Victory Margins
Raghavendra alias Bapu Deepak Mankar of the BJP achieved the most decisive win. He captured ward number 25 (b) with a massive margin of 26,497 votes. Mankar secured 31,981 votes against Shivsena (UBT) candidate Sameer Gaikwad's 5,484 votes.
This ward proved to be a BJP stronghold. All four BJP candidates from ward 25 emerged victorious in the Shaniwar Peth – Mahatma Phule Mandai region.
Bharatbhushan Barate followed with another substantial BJP win. He took ward number 32 (b) by 25,027 votes. Barate's 34,198 votes easily surpassed NCP candidate Kiran Bartakke's 9,171 votes.
BJP candidates swept ward 32 completely. Every BJP contender from the Warje – Popular Nagar area won their election.
Ratnamala Satav recorded the third largest margin for the BJP. She defeated NCP's Vasundhara Ubale by 23,136 votes in ward number 4 (b). Satav received 41,514 votes against Ubale's 18,378 votes.
The BJP maintained perfect performance in ward 4 as well. All four party candidates from Kharadi – Wagholi secured victories.
Narrowest Victory Margins
Khandu Londhe experienced the closest contest of the election. The BJP candidate won ward number 17 (a) by a razor-thin margin of just 55 votes.
Londhe secured 14,223 votes against NCP's Ashok Kamble. The former corporator received 14,168 votes in this tight race.
Ward 17 saw mixed results with three BJP winners and one NCP victor from Ramtekdi – Malwadi – Vaiduwadi.
Another narrow win came from Vivek Yadav of the BJP. He defeated Congress candidate Avinash Bagwe by only 62 votes in ward number 22 (d).
Yadav received 12,423 votes against Bagwe's 12,361 votes. Bagwe previously served as a corporator and his father Ramesh Bagwe is a former Congress MLA and Minister.
Ward 22 elected three BJP candidates and one Congress representative from Kasewadi – Dias Plot.
Ravi Tingre of the NCP secured a small victory over BJP's Sudhir Waghmode. Tingre won ward number 2 (b) by a margin of 138 votes.
Tingre received 15,321 votes against Waghmode's 15,183 votes. The NCP achieved a clean sweep in ward 2 with all four winning candidates coming from the party in Phule Nagar – Nagpur Chawl.
Election Aftermath
BJP supporters celebrated these results at their city office on DP Road. The party demonstrated strong performance across multiple wards while facing tight contests in others.
The election outcomes highlight both BJP's dominance in certain Pune areas and the competitive nature of municipal politics. Victory margins ranged from overwhelming to nearly negligible across different constituencies.
