Pune: The industrial twin cities of Pimpri Chinchwad have witnessed rebellions within leading political parties during every assembly election hosted so far, in 2009, 2014 and 2019, as well as the bypoll last year. This time around as well, rebellions are expected during the upcoming assembly poll, with several leaders already announcing that they will throw their hat in the ring even if their parties do not give them a ticket after the alliance's seat-sharing agreement is finalized. In the past, at least three times, voters here elected independent candidates to different seats; for three other seats, independents stood second in terms of votes.
This time, candidates including NCP 's Nana Kate and Bhausaheb Bhoir from Chinchwad and BJP 's Seema Sawale from Pimpri (reserved seat) have already expressed their intention to contest as independents if denied a ticket from their respective party. All three are former corporators, who also contested assembly polls unsuccessfully in the past; they have all now started preparations. This has caused a headache for the Mahayuti leadership, as the prospect is likely to damage the official candidate of the alliance and may also affect the results, particularly in constituencies like Chinchwad, where there are already a large number of aspirants in both BJP and NCP.
It may be noted that BJP's Mahesh Jagtap is the sitting MLA from Bhosari, while Ashwini Jagtap is the MLA from Chinchwad. NCP's Anna Bansode is the sitting MLA from the Pimpri.
