PMC polls: In boost for BJP, its candidates Manjusha Nagpure, Shrikant Jagtap win unopposed from Suncity-Manikbaug ward

Manjusha Nagpure and Shrikant Jagtap were elected unopposed from the Pune Municipal Corporation’s Suncity-Manikbaug ward after their opponents withdrew from the fray. (Express Photo)

In a major boost to the BJP’s prospects in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) elections, two of its candidates, Manjusha Nagpure and Shrikant Jagtap, were elected unopposed from the Suncity-Manikbaug ward after their opponents withdrew from the fray.

Nagpure and Jagtap are former BJP corporators who served as elected representatives from the same electoral ward in the civic body’s previous five-year term from 2017 to 2022. In the PMC, voters have to elect four candidates each, including two women, from an electoral ward.

In the Suncity-Manikbaug ward, one seat is reserved for a woman from a general category, one seat for a woman from the Other Backward Classes (OBC), and the remaining two are general category seats, open to both men and women.

The two other BJP candidates, Sachin More and Jyoti Gosavi, will have to continue campaigning for the municipal corporation polls slated to be held on January 15. The results will be declared on January 16.

Manjusha Nagpure was contesting in the Open category seat for women in which a total of six nominations were filed in the Suncity-Manikbaug ward. Two of these nominations were rejected by the election office in the scrutiny stage, while three candidates withdrew from the fray on Friday. With this, Manjusha will be a corporator for the third consecutive time.

Her husband, Deepak Nagpure, is the city BJP general secretary and a staunch right-wing supporter. “We will tackle love jihad and land jihad in the ward and city after getting elected to the civic body,” Deepak had said after his wife filed her nomination.

Shrikant Jagtap was contesting in the general category in Suncity-Manikbaug. His opponent, Nitin Gaikwad, withdrew from the election on Friday, the last day for withdrawal of nominations.

A total of 165 corporators from 41 wards will be elected to the PMC in the polls. While 40 wards will elect four corporators each, there will be five corporators from the remaining one ward as per the state government’s decision.