Pune civic polls results: Congress bags 15 seats in PMC; fails to open account in Pimpri Chinchwad

PUNE: Congress marginally improved its tally to double digits — 15 — in Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) on Friday but failed to open its account in the Pimpri Chinchwad civic body.

The party had won nine seats in the 2017 PMC polls. Compared to that, the party gained six seats this time, but some of its leading faces, like two-time corporator Avinash Bagwe, lost. A few Congress leaders who switched parties ahead of the polls, including Ulhas (Aba) Bagul and Abhijit Shivarkar, also had to bite the dust.


"I never rebelled against Congress, but I was suspended from the party. It was a kind of injustice to me. Some party leaders created rifts in the party's city unit for their personal interest. It affected people like me and other capable candidates," Bagul told TOI.

Pune was a stronghold of Congress since its inception in the late 1880s. The city not only produced popular Congress leaders but also statesmen like Lokmanya Tilak before independence.

The dominance of Pune leaders continued post-independence. Kakasaheb Gadgil, Vitthalrao Gadgil and Suresh Kalmadi held ministerial berths in various Union govts.

Congress was the primary political force in Pune during the 1980s and early 90s, and decisively ruled the civic body. Its influence waned over the last two decades.

The party had won 61 seats in the PMC in 2002, allowing it to retain power with the support of then newly formed NCP. The party's seats dropped sharply from 61 to 36 in 2007.

The slide continued in 2012, as it could win only 28 seats in the 152-member house. The party won only nine seats in the PMC in 2017.

Veterans claimed that persistent infighting in the party led to its debacle in the city. "It is very disheartening to see the decline of the party in Pune. Many leaders at the helm of affairs distanced themselves from the core principles, leading to the party's losses," said Ulhas Pawar, a veteran Congress leader.

Congress saw a decline in Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC), too. It did not win even a single seat in 2017, as against 14 in 2012. As many as 20 Congress corporators were elected in 2007 against 36 in 2002.