Vote for me, win SUV, Thailand trip, gold: Pune poll candidates to voters

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, December 25, 2025: The Pune municipal election is three weeks away and aspiring councillors – jostling and shoving for the power the seats bring – have begun courting voters with a bewildering list of freebies and gifts, from foreign trips to expensive cars, and from jewellery to sarees for homemakers.

In Lohgaon-Dhanori ward, for example, one candidate has vowed to give 11 voters 1,100 square feet of land each through a ’lucky draw’. ’Registration’ for this has already begun.

A Viman Nagar candidates has offered couples a 5-day luxury tour to Thailand.

SUVs, two-wheelers, and gold jewellery are being offered, via ’lucky draws’, in other wards.

Homemakers and female voters received special attention; thousands of Paithani sarees – a handwoven silk saree with vibrant colours and intricate designs sewn directly into the fabric with pure gold or silver – have already been distributed, as have sewing machines and cycles.

Cricket leagues have been set up – with cash prizes of Rs 1 lakh – for the sports enthusiast voter, underlining the fierce competition among candidates eager to flex their financial muscles.

Also ahead of the election, a significant Pawar reunion is on the cards.

The Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party factions have held a first meeting regarding seat-sharing for the January 15 election, sources said Thursday morning.

Sharad Pawar – from whose side nephew Ajit walked away in July 2023 to align with the BJP and Eknath Shinde’s breakaway Shiv Sena unit – is understood to want between 40 and 45 seats. The catch, though, is Ajit Pawar is unwilling to offer more than 30.

A final decision will be taken after talks with his cousin, Supriya Sule, the Sharad Pawar NCP’s Working President. A first round of talks took place last night between Subhash Jagtap and Sunil Tingre from Ajit Pawar’s side and Vishal Tambe and Ankush Kakade from his uncle’s group.

On Wednesday the Thackeray cousins, Uddhav and Raj, reunited after a 20-year-feud.

The Shiv Sena (UBT) and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena partnership, however, has upset the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance that also includes the Congress and Sharad Pawar’s NCP faction. The former has walked out – for this election only, at this time.