Bandu Andekar walked into a Pune government office on Saturday to file election nomination papers — entering with a black hood over his head and hands tied together with a rope. The notorious gangster remains in judicial custody over the alleged murder of his grandson, and secured clearance from a special MOCA court to contest the civic body polls. Two other family members and fellow accused also filed their nominations as individual candidates.
Municipal corporation elections in Pune and 28 other civic bodies in the state are scheduled to be held on January 15. Votes will be counted on January 16, with results published by January 19 under a four-member ward system across 41 wards. Nomination filings will run till Monday with election officials scrutinising documents on December 3.
His sister-in-law Laxmi Andekar and daughter-in-law Sonali Andekar (accused in the same case) have also filed their nomination papers as per the court’s permission.
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Face covered, hands tied together
Visuals shared online showed police officers escorting Andekar to the designated nomination filing centre in a police van from Yerawada central jail. Officials led the political hopeful into the building with his face covered by a black cloth and his hands tied together with rope. Andedar also raised slogans in his own support while being escorted into the centre.
“The nomination papers of Andekar were submitted today but there are some documents that need to be furnished and the procedure will be done on Monday,” his lawyer Chavan told PTI.
The jailed gangster had obtained conditional permission from a special MCOCA court to file his nomination papers as an independent candidate. But the process could not be completed on Saturday as the form was not finished. Election officials said his nomination papers would have to be re-filed on Monday.
Pune, Maharashtra: Notorious gangster Bandu Andekar was brought under police protection and, while leaving, he chanted slogans such as 'Neki ka kaam Andekar ka naam, Andekaron ko vote matlab vikas ko vote' as he proceeded to file his nomination papers pic.twitter.com/4Dymfc2it2
— IANS (@ians_india) December 27, 2025
Murder charges
Ayush was shot dead on September 5 in Nana Peth. He is the son of Ganesh Komkar, who is an accused in the murder case of former Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) corporator and Bandu Andekar’s son Vanraj Andekar.
Bandu alias Suryakant Ranoji Andekar (70), Laxmi Udaykant Andekar (60), Sonali Vanraj Andekar (36), all residents of Nana Peth, along with 15 others, are in judicial custody for their alleged involvement in the killing.
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