The election heat does not seem to end in Pimpri-Chinchwad. After the assembly polls that witnessed much acrimony in Chinchwad constituency, Thergaon is heading towards bypoll on December 20.

Shiv Sena leader Shrirang Barne, who was defeated by independent candidate Laxman Jagtap in the assembly elections, is now trying his luck in the civic byelection from Ward No 86 (Thergaon). He is pitted against Tukaram Gujar of the Nationalist Congress Party. The bypoll has been necessitated because of Barne’s resignation following his decision to contest the assembly elections. Though the last date of withdrawal of the candidature is on Tuesday, it is widely believed that the contest will be straight between Barne and Gujar as happened in the past.

From trying to get nomination for fighting Lok Sabha election, then a botched attempt at becoming an MLA and now a corporator-aspirant, Barne’s fortunes have plummeted dramatically in the last two years. First Barne was removed as president of the Pimpri-Chinchwad Congress, then he was sacked from the party only to be taken back. He resigned from the Congress during parliamentary polls in the hope of gettting Shiv Sena nomination. But protests by Sainkis stalled his efforts. He was however nominated as Sena candidate from Chinchwad constitutency and was defeated by Jagtap.

In the last three PCMC elections, Barne as Congressman had defeated Gujar with comfortable margins. Now for fourth time, Gujar hopes Thergaon voters would prefer him over Barne. In the recent assembly elections, Barne had polled over 4,000 votes while Laxman Jagtap, the independent candidate, had secured just 400 votes. “I had notched up 76 per cent of total votes. And I am sure there would be little change in the scenario in the civic elections,” Barne said while pointing at development projects he implemented during his three terms as corporator.

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