Pune Municipal Election: Major Parties Yet to Declare Candidates, Uncertainty Deepens
Reported by Mubarak Ansari
Pune, 28th December 2025: Uncertainty continues to loom large over nomination filings for the upcoming Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) general elections, with only 48 nomination forms submitted so far despite thousands being sold. The lack of official candidate announcements by major political parties has triggered anxiety and confusion among aspirants.
Polling for the PMC elections is scheduled for January 15, 2026, while the last date for filing nomination papers is December 30. Although the nomination process began on December 23, six days later none of the key parties from either the Mahayuti or the Maha Vikas Aghadi have released their official candidate lists.
The PMC elections will be held across 41 wards for a total of 165 seats. Election officials said that more than 10,000 nomination forms have been sold so far, but only 48 candidates have actually filed their papers. With just two days remaining before the deadline, nominations will be accepted only until 3 pm on Tuesday, December 30. This has raised the possibility of heavy rush and confusion at the offices of returning officers on Monday and Tuesday.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar), Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar), Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) are all engaged in internal meetings, surveys, alliance discussions and deliberations over local political equations. However, the delay in announcing candidates has left many hopefuls unsettled.
Sources said several aspirants have kept their nomination papers ready and are planning to take a final call at the last moment. There is also speculation that some parties are deliberately delaying the announcement of candidates despite finalising lists, in a bid to prevent rebellion and internal dissent.
Many aspirants, who claim to have worked consistently in their wards over the past three to four years and spent substantial amounts on public outreach and local initiatives, are now uncertain about securing party tickets. As a result, the atmosphere ahead of the PMC elections remains tense, with uncertainty over nominations becoming more pronounced as the deadline approaches.
