BJP announces candidates for Pune bye-elections

The Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded Hemant Rasane from Kasba Peth while Ashwini Jagtap would contest the Chinchwad seat in the Assembly bye-elections to two seats of Pune in Maharashtra.

The bye-elections have been necessitated following the death of BJP MLAs Mukta Tilak and Laxman Jagtap, who represented the Kasba Peth and Chinchwad, respectively.

Ashwini Jagtap is the wife of Laxman Jagtap.

On December 22, 2022, Tilak died of cancer. She was the great-grand-daughter-in-law of the legendary nationalist and revolutionary leader Bal Gangadhar Tilak. She was a first-time MLA and a former Mayor of Pune city.

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On January 3, 2023, Jagtap died of cancer. He was a three-time MLA having won once as an Independent and twice on a BJP ticket.

It was expected that someone from the Tilak family would be considered for the nomination from Kasba Peth.

On Friday, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Higher and Technical Education Minister Chandrakant Patil and other local leaders met Tilak’s husband Shailesh Tilak in a surprise visit to their residence at Kesariwada.

Fadnavis and Patil held a close-door meeting with Shailesh Tilak and son Kunal Tilak but what transpired in the meeting is not yet known.