Fifty-three-year-old Ramdas Bokad of the NCP is on his way to becoming the second candidate to be elected unopposed to PCMC as all his six opponents took back their candidature on the last day of withdrawing nomination papers on Saturday. “Bokad is the only the candidate in the fray. The formality of declaration of his victory will be done after we get a nod from the State Election Commissioner,” said PCMC election officer Dnyaneshwar Mulak. He added that there have been no complaints of candidates being forced to withdraw their nominations and they have conveyed the same to the EC.

Bokad said he had not forced anybody to withdraw in his favour. “All the candidates are well-educated. I had no inkling they were going to withdraw. They told me that they had withdrawn in my favour to ensure social development,” said Bokad, who will now represent the Vaiduvasti area, which has a voter population of around 24,000. The Panel No 56 (A) has been reserved for a Scheduled Tribe candidate.

Shaken by the development, the Congress and the Sena wasted no time in accusing the NCP of using muscle power to get the nominations withdrawn.

“Everybody knows that the NCP has created an atmosphere of terror in Pimple Gurav and its surrounding areas. That is the reason why two NCP candidates won,” said Sena MP Gajanan Babar. Without naming anybody, he said NCP leaders and workers are forcing other candidates to withdraw as they fear losing the ward which will not give them the numbers to rule the PCMC.

The Maha-alliance of Shiv Sena, BJP and RPI had allotted the seat to RPI. “However, we are finding it difficult to get an RPI candidate who had a validated caste certificate,” said Sena leader Sarang Kamtekar.

The Congress too reacted sharply. “The NCP’s muscle power is on display on a massive scale. Candidates are not feeling safe contesting in Pimple Gurav and surrounding areas,” said Pimpri-Chinchwad Congress unit chief Bhabusaheb Bhoir. Appealing to the EC to declare entire Pimpri-Chinchwad as sensitive area, Bhoir said it was imperative that elections are held in free and fair manner. “The atmosphere is not conducive to holding peaceful polls in Pimpri-Chinchwad. The EC should take adequate steps, otherwise it is meaningless to go ahead.” he said.

NCP MLA Laxman Jagtap, who played a major role in the two unopposed elections, denied that the party used coercive measures or the atmosphere in Pimple Gurav was not suitable for free and fair polls. “Our opponents know they are losing badly. So they are raking up false excuses. We requested the candidates to withdraw and they did so for the sake of development of the area,” Jagtap.