Pune: The Hadapsar Assembly Constituency, known for its large voter base and strategic significance, witnessed a nail-biting contest between the two factions of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
In a closely fought election, incumbent MLA Chetan Tupe of Ajit Pawar-led NCP emerged victorious, defeating his rival Prashant Jagtap of NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) faction by a margin of 7122 votes.
Chetan Tupe secured 134810 votes, Prashant Jagtap 127688, Sainath Babar (MNS) 32821 and Gangadhar Badhe (Shiv Sena UBT dissenter) secured 6584 votes.
The counting process began with Chetan Tupe taking an early lead. By the middle rounds, his position seemed stable.
However, Prashant Jagtap made a strong comeback, narrowing the gap and briefly overtaking Tupe in vote share. The competition remained neck-and-neck until the final round, where Tupe reestablished his lead, securing a hard-earned victory.
Despite the official announcement of Tupe’s win by election authorities, Prashant Jagtap raised objections, alleging irregularities in the counting process. He demanded a recount, stating his dissatisfaction with the declared results.
The Hadapsar constituency became a focal point in the state elections due to its complex political dynamics. As part of the alliance's seat-sharing arrangement, the constituency was allocated to Ajit Pawar’s NCP.
This decision disappointed Shiv Sena city chief Nana Bhangire, who had been vying for the seat. Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, however, chose to field Chetan Tupe, the sitting MLA, as his candidate.
Meanwhile, the MVA alliance, comprising the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar), Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), and Congress, assigned the seat to the NCP (SP).
Former Shiv Sena MLA Mahadev Babar, who had been preparing to contest, expressed dissatisfaction with this decision. His supporter, Gangadhar Badhe, entered the fray as an independent candidate, backed by Babar. This move is believed to have split the votes, creating challenges for the MVA-backed candidate along with a major chunk of votes cut by the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena.