Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar announced an alliance between the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Nationalist Congress Party Sharadchandra Pawar faction on Sunday for the upcoming civil body polls in Pimpri Chinchwad. Elections to 29 municipal corporations in Maharashtra, including Mumbai and Pune, are scheduled for January 15.
NCP and NCP (Sharad Pawar) Alliance for Pimpri Chinchwad Polls
Pawar stated that the two parties decided to contest the Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal elections together, bringing the family together after a period of division. He added that the decision was made in the interest of Maharashtra’s development.
The deputy CM also indicated that seat-sharing discussions have taken place and an announcement regarding the details will be made soon.
The announcement follows previous reports of stalled alliance talks due to disagreements over the use of party symbols. Senior NCP (SP) leaders had previously ruled out an alliance for the Pune civic polls, citing Ajit Pawar’s insistence that candidates from the Sharad Pawar-led faction contest on the NCP symbol.
Sources reported that the NCP (SP) leadership refused this demand, believing it would signal acceptance of Ajit Pawar’s leadership. Senior NCP (SP) leader Ankush Kakade stated that a meeting with Deputy CM Ajit Pawar on Friday did not result in progress toward an alliance for the Pune civic polls.
Kakade explained that the NCP (SP) intends to contest the election on its own symbol – the ‘trumpet and drum’ – while allowing the NCP to fight on its symbol if an alliance were to proceed. He noted that the NCP (SP) working president Supriya Sule prefers the party remain with its current Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance partners, Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT).
The clock symbol originally belonged to the undivided NCP and was awarded to Ajit Pawar’s faction by the Election Commission after recognizing his group as the original party.
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