Pune: Apparently, to strike a deal with the Shiv Sena over a seat-sharing formula, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has scheduled to release its first list of candidates for the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) elections on Friday, has postponed the declaration, probably to quell discontent within the party.
The sources from the BJP said the first list is likely to be announced in the next couple of days, with 50 to 60 names.
Party members attended a meeting in Mumbai on Friday, chaired by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, to finalise the names. A source said the party preferred to postpone the declaration of the list as there was no consensus on some seats.
Reportedly, over 2,300 hopeful applicants’ interviews have been held so far, who are looking to contest the PMC polls. “Talks with BJP’s alliance partner Shiv Sena are underway, and a deal will be reached soon. Following which the names will be declared,” said Pune MP Muralidhar Mohol.
“A large number of aspirants have applied to contest PMC elections, and this may have forced the leadership to delay the list and declare it a couple of days before the last day of filing nominations,” a source from the BJP said.
“Also, the probability of candidates defecting to other parties persists after not finding their names in the list,” he added.
Moreover, two more former corporators, Dilip Barate and Abhijit Shivarkar, son of former Congress minister Balasaheb Shivarkar, joined BJPs on Saturday. Barate hails from Warje and Shivarkar was a corporator from Wanowrie between 2007 and 2012.