With the Supreme Court on Wednesday directing the State Election Commission (SEC) to notify within two weeks the programme for local bodies’ polls, the main contenders for power in Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) – the BJP and the NCP – said they are well prepared for the civic polls and confident of coming to power in the civic body.
The state government had appointed municipal commissioner Vikram Kumar as administrator for the PMC after the five-year term of the elected general body ended on March 14. As per the Maharashtra Municipal Corporation Act 1949, the SEC has to hold elections for civic body before the end of the existing term of general body. However, the ongoing pandemic hampered the preparations for civic polls.
A few months back, the SEC began preparation for holding civic elections before the Supreme Court ruling on withdrawing reservations to Other Backward Class (OBC) category due to lack of procedure followed for it became a political issue. All political parties in state assembly unanimously decided to postpone the civic polls across the state until the OBC reservation gets restored. Following this, the state government decided to appoint an administrator for PMC.
“The BJP is fully prepared to retain power in PMC. We are confident of getting more than 100 corporators elected to the civic body in the elections. The development work carried out by BJP in last five years, public service during the pandemic and strengthening the base of party will ensure the BJP once again comes to power in PMC,” said city Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Jagdish Mulik.
The BJP had come to power in PMC for the first time in 2017 by getting maximum number of its candidate elected to the civic body.
Mulik further said, “It is clear now that the civic elections will be held without reservation for OBCs in elections. The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government could have completed the necessary technical procedure for ensuring reservation for OBCs but it has completely failed to do so. It is due to the lack of political will that the OBC community will not have reservation in civic elections.”
City NCP chief Prashant Jagtap said that his party respects the directions of the top court. “The NCP did not expect this kind of court judgment wherein the elections have to be conducted without reservation for OBC community. The NCP has a very clear stand that the OBC community should get political reservation and it would continue to have the same in future. We will continue to fight for the OBC community,” he said.
Jagtap said that the powers to declare elections of civic bodies are with SEC and the NCP is fully prepared for it if the polls are declared immediately. “Even if the court has directed to hold civic polls without reservation for OBC category, the NCP would ensure the OBC community get representation in list of party candidates as per their quota in case of reservation. The NCP will ensure that there is no injustice done to the OBC community and would get their members to contest from open category seats,” he said.
Meanwhile, Union minister and RPI(A) leader Ramdas Athawale criticised the MVA government for “failing to retain” political reservation for OBCs. “The state government should immediately file a review petition in the Supreme Court to ensure that the OBC community gets political reservation in civic polls in state,” he said.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) too has geared up for the PMC elections.
“We are ready to contest all the seats in PMC elections and are well prepared for it,” said Abhijit More, spokesperson for the AAP.
The party has been taking up various public issues and “exposing corruption” in the civic body, he said, adding the cadre is geared up after the victory in Punjab elections and would ensure implementation of Delhi’s governance model in the city.