The Bharatiya Janata Party plans to issue show-cause notices to more than 100 of its Pune municipal corporators after they failed to attend a campaign launch programme held in the presence of state party president Ravindra Chavan, party leader Ganesh Bidkar said. The corporators will be asked to submit written explanations within five days, after which the party will decide on further action.
The programme marked the launch of the campaign for the BJP candidates contesting the Pune division graduates’ and teachers’ constituency elections. It was attended by Chavan, Union minister of state Murlidhar Mohol, Maharashtra higher and technical education minister Chandrakant Patil, minister of state Madhuri Misal, Pune mayor Manjusha Nagpure and party legislators, according to Civic Mirror – Pune.
All BJP corporators and office-bearers had reportedly been instructed to attend the event. However, more than 100 corporators were absent. Some corporators attended the programme but left shortly afterwards. The large-scale absence prompted the party leadership to record attendance and examine who was present.
Bidkar, the leader of the house, instructed party workers to note the attendance of the corporators and personally moved through the venue to verify the list. The party now plans to send notices to those who were absent and seek explanations for their non-attendance. The notices, as described in the report, are a disciplinary step seeking a response; any subsequent action will be decided only after the explanations are considered.
The issue comes after Pune Municipal Corporation completed four years under an administrator before its general election. The BJP won 119 corporator seats in the election, and the appointment of seven nominated corporators took the party’s strength in the civic body to 126, the report said.
The party has treated attendance at its meetings, agitations and important programmes as mandatory for its corporators and office-bearers. The campaign launch was therefore viewed internally as an important organisational event, particularly because it was attended by senior state and national-level leaders.
The episode places the focus on how political parties manage attendance, discipline and accountability among elected representatives in a large municipal corporation. The immediate process will involve issuing the notices, receiving written explanations within five days and deciding whether any further action is warranted against the absent corporators.
