The nomination papers of jailed local criminal Bandu Andekar for the municipal elections in Pune remain incomplete. He was brought under police security for nomination on Saturday (27 December), but the form was not accepted due to lack of complete documents. Now on Monday 29th December, an attempt will be made once again to complete this process.

Let us tell you that the special MCOCA court of Pune had given conditional permission to Bandu Andekar that he can file nomination for the municipal elections. Following this order, on December 27, he was brought from Yerwada Central Jail to the designated government center at Bhawani Peth in a police van. During this time his face was covered with a black cloth and both his hands were tied with a rope. While being taken inside the centre, Andekar also raised slogans in his support – ‘Good work is Andekar’s name, vote for Andekar means vote for development’.

Election officials’ decision and legal aspect

According to election officials, the nomination paper submitted by Bandu Andekar was incomplete, hence it could not be accepted immediately. Officials clarified that the process was not considered complete due to non-submission of required documents.

Andekar’s lawyer Mithun Chavan said that the nomination has been filed, but some formal documents are still pending. According to PTI, to fulfill these, Andekar will have to complete the nomination process again on December 29. According to Chavan, Andekar wants to contest elections as an independent candidate from Bhawani Peth ward office.

Other family nominations and electoral background

Andekar’s sister-in-law Lakshmi Andekar and daughter-in-law Sonali Andekar have also filed their nomination papers after the court’s permission. Both of them are also accused in the case related to the murder of Ayush. Ayush was shot dead in Nana Peth area on September 5. He was the son of Ganesh Komkar, who is an accused in the murder case of Vanraj Andekar, a former councilor of the Nationalist Congress Party and son of Bandu Andekar. Voting for the elections of 28 other metropolitan municipalities of Maharashtra including Pune is to be held on January 15, hence this matter has become a topic of discussion at both political and administrative levels.