Pune civic polls: As tie-up talks continue, party leaders worry about two symbols, too much confusion

“The pre-poll alliance would lead to seat sharing among the partners and each party would push for at least one candidate in a panel, to ensure a city-wide presence, which would mean the alliance will have to seek votes for two different symbols,” said a Congress leader, adding that this was one of the reasons why a few party leaders were opposing any such alliance.

He said aspiring candidates were apprehensive that different symbols might create confusion among voters trying to decide between the candidates in a panel. “The confusion among voters should not affect the party’s chances of winning certain seats,” said the Congress leader.

A senior NCP leader also admitted that the same issue was bothering some leaders. “The idea of forging an alliance was floated to ensure that the BJP and the Shiv Sena are not allowed to take advantage of a division of votes, in case the elections are contested separately by the Congress and the NCP. There seems to be a need for a pre-poll alliance, but there are concerns that it would be difficult to seek votes for two different symbols,” said the NCP leader.

He shared that the party has already shortlisted candidates and asked them to start campaigning. Since candidates had to cover a large area due to the four-ward electoral panel, they wanted to campaign jointly.

“Seeking votes is easier for candidates contesting on the same symbol, but it would be difficult to seek votes for alliance candidates who will contest on a different symbol,” said the NCP leader. The situation is much more politically complicated for the Sena, which has been taking the BJP head on, in city politics in the recent past. “The Sena was in alliance with the BJP till the 2014 assembly elections, but things between them changed after the old alliance was called off. This led to bitterness between workers of the two parties…,” said a Sena leader.

The Sena was unable to win any assembly seat from Pune in the 2014 elections, while the BJP managed to win two seats represented by the Sena for a long time, worsening the tiff between the two parties. “It would be difficult to jointly face the voters for the civic polls. The interests of the two parties clash in various areas…,” said the Sena leader.

On the other hand, BJP leaders seemed to be much more relaxed about the possibility of pre-poll alliances. “Our party symbol has become popular as it had reached every household during the Lok Sabha and assembly elections. The party would continue to benefit from it in civic polls,” said a BJP leader.