Pune Municipal polls: BJP, Shiv Sena to contest separately over seat-sharing dispute

Union Minister of State (MoS) Murlidhar Mohol said on Friday that while the two parties would fight the civic polls independently, the contest would remain cordial.

"BJP and Shiv Sena will contest the Pune Municipal Corporation elections separately, as consensus could not be reached on some seats. Therefore, both parties have decided to fight the polls independently. However, this will be a friendly contest," Mohol said.

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena senior leader Neelam Gorhe expressed strong dissatisfaction over the seat-sharing formula offered by the BJP.

"It was announced by the party high command in coordination with Devendra Fadnavis that we will go ahead with the Mahayuti. However, we have requested only 25 of the 165 seats. Irrespective of that, we were offered only 15 seats, among which 7 were not even mentioned by us. It is very insulting and condescending for Shiv Sena to take the seats where our eminent workers were denied an opportunity," Gorhe said.

"We sent a priority list to the BJP local unit and our high command. After repeated discussions between the 2 parties at the state and central levels, the local unit was firm that it would not give any seats to the Shiv Sena. Although we did not secure a single seat in the Assembly, we put in a lot of effort and hard work. A critical mass of women voters is shifting towards Shiv Sena, and keeping this in mind, we will be taking this campaign forward," Gorhe said.

Earlier, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced that the BJP would contest all 29 municipal corporations in the state in alliance with the Shiv Sena. However, for the Pune civic body, the BJP offered 16 of the 165 seats to the Shiv Sena, which the party's local unit rejected.

The elections to the Pune Municipal Corporation are scheduled to be held on January 15, while counting of votes and declaration of results will take place on January 16. (ANI)