Kasba Assembly bypoll in Pune: Ailing MP Girish Bapat brought in wheelchair to cast his vote

Ailing Lok Sabha member Girish Bapat on Sunday cast his vote in the bye-election to the Kasba Peth Assembly constituency in Pune. Bapat, with his nasal cannula on, came to the polling station at Ahilyabai Highschool in a car to exercise his franchise.

He was later taken inside the polling booth in a wheelchair. Before winning the Lok Sabha election in 2019, Bapat had represented this Assembly segment located in the heart of Pune five times.

Bapat, who had earlier stated that he would not be able to take part in the election campaign due to his poor health, had later addressed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers ahead of the polls and expressed confidence that the party will win comfortably.

The Oppostion, however, criticised the BJP, saying that the party remembered Bapat only when it sensed that its position in the Kasba Peth constituency was in trouble. Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) city unit president Prashant Jagtap had accused the BJP of "playing with Bapat's health".

Till 5 pm, a voter turnout of 45.25 per cent was registered in the Kasba seat, while the Chinchwad constituency near Pune recorded 41.1 per cent turnout.

The bypolls to Kasba and Chinchwad seats were necessitated due to the death of their respective BJP MLAs Mukta Tilak and Laxman Jagtap. In the Kasba seat, the contest was between BJP's Hemant Rasane and Congress's Ravindra Dhangekar, who is supported by the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance of the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray).