Days before Pune, Pimpri Chinchwad civic polls, Ajit Pawar says NCP in talks with Eknath Shinde’s Sena to ‘discuss the possibility of striking alliance’

Ajit Pawar said the alliance partners will withdraw the nomination of their candidates if there is more than one candidate for the same seat, so that there is no division of votes. (File Photo)

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Ajit Pawar said Thursday that he is in talks with the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena to form an alliance for the civic body elections to the Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporations.

The BJP is going all out in the Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation elections and has fielded candidates on all 165 seats, leaving nothing for the Shiv Sena despite having declared in advance that it would ally with Shinde’s party in all 29 municipal corporations.

After the BJP offered only 16 seats, the Shinde-led Shiv Sena decided to field its candidate in all seats at the last minute.

“The actual picture of candidates of various political parties in fray in civic polls of Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad will be clear today. The NCP and NCP(SP) have forged a pre-poll alliance in both civic bodies. I am also in talks with Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde and Sena leader Uday Samant. We will discuss the possibility of striking an alliance before the actual day of withdrawal of nomination forms,” said Ajit Pawar.

He said the alliance partners will withdraw the nomination of their candidates if there is more than one candidate for the same seat, so that there is no division of votes.

The BJP was in power in PMC and PCMC in the previous five-year term from 2012 to 2017 after bagging a majority of seats in the last civic polls. The NCP was the main opposition party after being out of power in both civic bodies.

Meanwhile, the Shiv Sena had been struggling to maintain its presence in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad.

The polling to the civic bodies will be held on January 15, and the results will be out on January 16.