Pune: In a series of meetings held today, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Pune aimed to assess internal preferences for candidates from six assembly constituencies.

However, what was intended as an effort to ensure democratic selection has become embroiled in controversy, with sitting MLAs allegedly using their influence to manipulate the process.

The BJP currently holds significant influence in Pune’s assembly constituencies, including Parvati, Khadakwasla, Kothrud, Shivajinagar, and Pune Cantonment. With the upcoming state elections, the party also plans to contest Kasba.

To streamline the process of candidate selection, the state BJP appointed observers to gather feedback from party officials on which aspirants have the strongest support. The exercise was meant to ensure that the most capable candidates are chosen to represent the party.

However, many aspirants reported that they were not properly informed about the meetings. Some only found out about the voting process after it had begun.

When these candidates attempted to find out who would be participating in the selection process, the list was deliberately kept hidden. This lack of transparency has caused frustration among many who were hoping for a fair selection process.

According to sources, sitting MLAs were given priority, and party officials were allegedly instructed to include only their names in the preference lists. Even strong aspirants, with wide support, were left out of the process, raising concerns over the fairness of the procedure.

In some constituencies, such as Khadakwasla, the number of officials arriving to cast votes for preferences suddenly increased, raising suspicions among the candidates.

An intense argument even broke out between a candidate and a close associate of a sitting MLA in Khadakwasla. The aspirant demanded that his name be communicated to party workers, but this request was ignored.

In Parvati, party workers who had been serving for over three decades weren’t informed of the meeting and had planned to raise the issue with the officials. However, they were eventually calmed down by other party members.