Poll numbers may upset calculations in Pune

PUNE: Nearly 50% voters in Pune stayed away from the election process on Tuesday in stark contrast to several constituencies in Western Maharashtra, where the voters exercised their franchise in large numbers.



The voter turnout in the Pune Lok Sabha constituency, estimated at 6pm, was around 52%, a dip of roughly 2% from the 2014 election turnout of 54.11%. The election officials, who had undertaken several voters' awareness campaigns, put up a brave face saying the estimated figures are close to the polling recorded last time and the percentage drop is negligible. However, neither the elected members nor the political party workers could explain why Pune failed to match the estimated high voting in Baramati and other constituencies in Western Maharashtra.

“Nothing extraordinary. This is typical urban voter turnout. But there is the possibility that the BJP voters did not turn out enthusiastically,” political analyst Suhas Palshikar told TOI.

Sources in the political circle said a drop in voter turnout could result in a close fight between Congress’ Mohan Joshi and BJP’s Girish Bapat. “The BJP was expecting a comfortable win. The party’s calculations may go wrong and the BJP may face a tough fight. It may not record a winning margin of over 3 lakh,” sources said.

According to rough estimates, among the six assembly constituencies in the Pune LS constituency, Parvati recorded the highest poll percentage of approximately 62%. Meanwhile, voters in Kasba Peth came out in the lowest numbers — about 48%.

Though the Parvati assembly segment has been with the BJP for the past one decade, it has several slum pockets, and the Congress is hoping that heavy voting in these pockets will benefit Joshi. The voting in the Kasba assembly segments voting — a constituency that Bapat represents as an MLA and is considered a BJP bastion — has come as a surprise for the party's supporters. In the 2014 LS polls, Kasba Peth had recorded 62% voting,.

Yogesh Gogawale, the BJP’s city unit chief, said there cannot be a co-relation between the lower voting percentage and the poll outcome. “The BJP has a strong poll machinery in every assembly seat. The supporters came out to vote in large numbers. All BJP-dominated pockets have recorded a handsome voting turnout,” he said.

A senior Congress leader said the increase in voting had benefitted BJP candidate Anil Shirole in 2014. Shirole went on to win with a margin of over 3.15 lakh. This time’s drop in turnout could benefit the Congress-NCP alliance instead, he said.

Congress’ city unit chief Ramesh Bagwe said, “Semi-urban areas and the slums, where the Congress-NCP combine has its traditional vote bank, outperformed the city’s tony areas.” Another Congress leader said the BJP’s decision to change its candidate may be a reason. “Shirole had won the last election with a huge margin. The BJP leaders still replaced him with Bapat. Perhaps this has hurt the supporters' sentiments,” he said.

The BJP leaders, however, refuted this claim. “The Congress is left with very few pockets in the city. The fact that the BJP has 97 corporators and eight MLAs indicates that these slum areas are no longer with the Congress,” one leader said.