Pune at a Quadrangle fight this Lok Sabha Elections with Parties falling into segments.

The extreme factionalism between and within Political parties in Maharashtra has made the Pune 2024 Lok Sabha Elections look critical. The Quadrangle fight that Pune oversees will be fought between the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) consisting of Sharad Pawar-led NCP, INC, Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray, the Mahayuti comprising the BJP, Shiv Sena-led by Eknath Shinde and the NCP led by Ajit Pawar.

The Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) recently parted ways from the Congress fielding its candidate. The fourth player in this fray is the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM), who also parted ways from the MVA and has staged their representative. This change has divided the Muslim and the Dalit votes 

The blow that hit Congress hard was when AIMIM fielded their candidate, Congress blamed the BJP for this alleging them of plotting against them. “We have fielded (former corporator) Anees Sundke from the Pune Lok Sabha seat. We were planning to field four to six candidates in Maharashtra. But now we might stick to four seats,” said Imtiaz Jaleel, State President, AIMIM.

The factionalism in Congress has hiked with time and there is no doubt that it will surely hurt their Performance in the 2024 Lok Sabha Elections. The recent split of VBA is not just a matter of worry for the Congress’ Dhangekar but also for BJP’s Mohol as the entry of VBA’s More in the ramps will now tug the votes. More was a former member of the Maharashtra Nav Nirman Sena and with MNS having no candidate their votes will surely be attracted by More. 

The division of the Shiv Sena votes, previously aligning with the BJP has fallen into fragments further dividing the votes. The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena has decided to join the Maha Vikas Aghadi whereas the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena will be a part of the Mahayuti. The Eknath Shinda-led Shiv Sena has less presence in Pune than the Udhav Thackeray-led Sena which has procured a stronger presence in the city benefiting the Congress candidate who are a part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi and adding to their vote bank.  

Baramati, which is said to be the bastian of the Pawar family will also see Game of Thrones after the party split. There will be a strong contest between the two factions. Supriya Sule from the Sharad Pawar camp and Sunetra Pawar, the Ajit Pawar led-NCP candidate. 

Sunetra Pawar recently performed a Pooja at the Dagdusheth Mandir in Pune; Sunetra Pawar at Dagdusheth Mandir.

In the recent agitation in Pune directed towards the reservation for the community has pulled many votes towards More, many people who earlier supported BJP or the Congress have now extended their support to VBA’s Vasant More. In 2019 the VBA had gotten 65,000 votes and Congress was banking on that, but now with the VBA fielding its candidate, Congress has lost those votes. There is a constant shift in the balance with Pune’s political climate, ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections the trouble seems quadrupled. 

A X post of VBA's Prakash Ambedkar finally announcing Vasant More as their candidate.

The Brahmin Community in Pune can be very unpredictable when it comes to extending their support, they were traditionally in support of the BJP however the community was disappointed when the party did not field a Brahmin candidate in the bastian of Kasba and lost. The party in the 2024 Lok Sabha election has also fielded a non-Brahmin candidate which may lead to the voters turning their backs on them. 

The stage is all set in Pune for the Lok Sabha 2024 elections- Pune goes to elections on Monday of 13th May 2024. Let us see which of the four factions pulls out of this as the victor.