With hours to go for the Chinchwad Assembly bypoll votes to be counted on Thursday, political parties and local residents are speculating about the possible winner, predicting a close finish. Even as parties proclaim that their candidates have the decisive edge, there is consensus that unlike the past three elections, when the late BJP MLA Laxman Jagtap had an upper hand, this time, the contest is wide open.
The counting of votes will begin at 8 am and the first trends will be available by 8.30 am, election officer Sachin Dhole said. The counting centre is located at Shankar Anna Gawde Kamgar Bhavan in Thergaon. The sealed EVMs have been kept inside the strong room and prohibitory orders have been imposed within a 100-metre radius of the Kamgar Bhavan.
“In all, there will be 37 rounds [of counting] and the final result will be out only after 14 hours,” said Kiran Gaikwad, another election officer. “There will be 15 tables, which includes one for postal votes. First, the postal ballots will be counted and then the first round will take off,” he added.
After every round, the votes gained by candidates will be announced through a loudspeaker placed outside Kamgar Bhavan. The round-wise votes polled by the candidates can also be viewed online, officials said.
BJP’s Ashwini Jagtap, NCP’s Nana Kate and Independent candidate Rahul Kalate are the main contenders for the Chinchwad Assembly seat. The bypoll was necessitated after the death of sitting BJP MLA Laxman Jagtap.
“It will certainly be a close fight. Though our candidate will win, the margin of victory will be small,” Shankar Jagtap, Ashwini Jagtap’s brother-in-law, said.
Pimpri-Chinchwad NCP chief Ajit Gavahane was also certain of “an interesting duel”. “As of now, everything is in the realm of speculation. We believe our candidate will win but it will be a hard-fought victory,” he said.
Like politicians, citizens too are expecting a close finish. “I think the Chinchwad seat will see a very close fight. None of the candidates is very strong or very weak. They are on equal footing. Each has done well in their respective dominated areas,” said Bipin Deshmukh, a resident of Chinchwadgaon.
Mahadev Saharabuddhe, a political observer from Pimpri-Chinchwad, said, “The kind of close finish that Chinchwad seat will witness will stump everyone. The way it was fought was seen to be believed. While BJP and NCP brought in top leaders, Kalate was at his aggressive best. Therefore, we are in for a humdinger of a match.”
Prajakta Kale, a student, said that it was the first time that Pimpri-Chinchwad was witnessing an election like this “where every top state leader came for campaigning”. “The parties have turned it into a prestige issue. Though it was a bypoll, it saw 50 per cent voting. There is a lot of interest among residents of Pimpri-Chinchwad about this seat. Everyone is wondering, kaun jinknar? (Who will win?),” she said.
Activist Manav Kamble said the winner will win by a small margin of votes. “It could be 5,000 or 10,000. I am guessing that if Kalate polls more than 45,000 votes, Jagtap will win and Kate will finish second. If Kalate gets less votes, then Kate will win,” Kamble predicted.
Meanwhile, activist Maruti Bhapkar spoke of a “surprise winner”. “With two established parties gunning against each other, the Independent candidate might emerge as the surprise winner. Kalate is not a rookie. In the last elections, he polled 1.12 lakh votes. Even if there is a dip in voting, he will finish with a staggering number of votes which will prove decisive,” Bhapkar said.
