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By:

Naresh Kamath

5 November 2024 at 5:30:38 am

Battle royale at Prabhadevi-Mahim belt

Amidst cut-throat competition, five seats up for grabs Mumbai: South Central Mumbai’s Prabhadevi-Mahim belt, an epicentre of Mumbai’s politics, promises a cut-throat competition as the two combines – Mahayuti and the Shiv Sena (UBT)-Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) combine – sweat it out in the upcoming BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls. It is the same ward where Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray used to address mammoth rallies at Shivaji Park and also the residence of MNS chief...

Battle royale at Prabhadevi-Mahim belt

Amidst cut-throat competition, five seats up for grabs Mumbai: South Central Mumbai’s Prabhadevi-Mahim belt, an epicentre of Mumbai’s politics, promises a cut-throat competition as the two combines – Mahayuti and the Shiv Sena (UBT)-Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) combine – sweat it out in the upcoming BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls. It is the same ward where Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray used to address mammoth rallies at Shivaji Park and also the residence of MNS chief Raj Thackeray. This belt has five wards and boasts of famous landmarks like the Siddhivinayak temple, Mahim Dargah and Mahim Church, and Chaityabhoomi, along with the Sena Bhavan, the headquarters of Shiv Sena (UBT) combine. This belt is dominated by the Maharashtrians, and hence the Shiv Sena (UBT)-MNS has been vocal about upholding the Marathi pride. This narrative is being challenged by Shiv Sena (Shinde) leader Sada Sarvankar, who is at the front. In fact, Sada has fielded both his children Samadhan and Priya, from two of these five wards. Take the case of Ward number 192, where the MNS has fielded Yeshwant Killedar, who was the first MNS candidate announced by its chief, Raj Thackeray. This announcement created a controversy as former Shiv Sena (UBT) corporator Priti Patankar overnight jumped to the Eknath Shinde camp and secured a ticket. This raised heckles among the existing Shiv Sena (Shinde) loyalists who raised objections. “We worked hard for the party for years, and here Priti has been thrust on us. My name was considered till the last moment, and overnight everything changed,” rued Kunal Wadekar, a Sada Sarvankar loyalist. ‘Dadar Neglected’ Killedar said that Dadar has been neglected for years. “The people in chawls don’t get proper water supply, and traffic is in doldrums,” said Killadar. Ward number 191 Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Vishaka Raut, former Mumbai mayor, is locked in a tough fight against Priya Sarvankar, who is fighting on the Shiv Sena (Shinde) ticket. Priya’s brother Samadhan is fighting for his second term from neighbouring ward 194 against Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Nishikant Shinde. Nishikant is the brother of legislator Sunil Shinde, a popular figure in this belt who vacated his Worli seat to accommodate Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray. Sada Sarvankar exudes confidence that both his children will be victorious. “Samadhan has served the people with all his dedication so much that he put his life at stake during the Covid-19 epidemic,” said Sada. “Priya has worked very hard for years and has secured this seat on merit. She will win, as people want a fresh face who will redress their grievances, as Vishaka Raut has been ineffective,” he added. He says the Mahayuti will Ward number 190 is the only ward where the BJP was the winner last term (2017) in this area, and the party has once nominated its candidate, Sheetal Gambhir Desai. Sheetal is being challenged by Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Vaishali Patankar. Sheetal vouches for the BJP, saying it’s time to replace the Shiv Sena (UBT) from the BMC. “They did nothing in the last 25 years, and people should now give a chance to the BJP,” said Sheetal. Incidentally, Sheetal is the daughter of Suresh Gambhir, a hardcore Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray loyalist, who has been a Mahim legislator for 4 terms and even won the 1985 BMC with the highest margin in Mumbai. In the neighbouring ward number 182, Shiv Sena (UBT) has given a ticket to former mayor and veteran corporator Milind Vaidya. He is being challenged by BJP candidate Rajan Parkar. Like the rest of Mumbai, this belt is also plagued by inadequate infrastructure to support the large-scale redevelopment projects. The traffic is in the doldrums, especially due to the closure of the Elphinstone bridge. There are thousands of old buildings and chawls which are in an extremely dilapidated state. The belt is significant, as top leaders like Manohar Joshi, Diwakar Raote and Suresh Gambhir have dominated local politics for years. In fact, Shiv Sena party’s first Chief Minister, Manohar Joshi, hailed from this belt.

Clever seat selection helped BJP to secure historic win

The party won 65 seats against Congress, 37 against NCP (SP) and 29 against Shiv Sena (UBT)

Clever seat selection

Mumbai: The BJP’s strategic seat sharing with the allies has proved beneficial for the party. An analysis of the Assembly election results show that the BJP has scored over its main rival, the Congress, in a big way because of the direct fights.


The analysis shows that BJP defeated all three constituents of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) – Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) – in the direct fights. This is attributed as one of the reasons for the BJP’s historic poll success.


The BJP contested 147 out of 288 seats. In 76 constituencies, it faced Congress. BJP secured victory in 65 seats and lost only 11 seats, making it a whopping 86 per cent of the total direct fights. This was followed by an even stronger performance against NCP (SP). Of the total 39 fights with Sharad Pawar’s party, BJP captured 37 seats making it 95 per cent of the total fights with NCP (SP). BJP and Shiv Sena (UBT) were head-to-head in 32 constituencies, of which BJP emerged victorious in 29 seats, making this 91 per cent of the total direct contests.


According to a BJP strategist the party had bargained hard with its allies, Shiv Sena and NCP to get the desired constituencies in the seat sharing formula. “We had studied to potential candidates of the MVA. That helped us in choosing the seats where we can register comfortable victories,” the strategist said.


BJP spokesperson Niranjan Shetty attributed the success to all the party workers who worked hard to boost development, infrastructure in the state. He gave credit to Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for his contribution to the party’s success.


Shetty pointed out that in 2019, Uddhav Thackeray had stalled all the “novel” and “legendary” projects that Fadnavis had started when he had taken over as CM, making it very easy for the people of Maharashtra to strike a comparison between both the leaders and the potential they had for serving the people. “Devendra Fadnavis gave up his post very easily for the larger good. There are many such examples like Venkaiah Naidu who was BJP National President and later worked as the Vice President of India because that was the need of the hour. We seldom care about our posts,” Shetty told The Perfect Voice.


Congress spokesperson Atul Londhe refused to call the election results as the people’s mandate. “This is not at all a Janata mandate. Despite Maharashtra struggling with so many basic social issues, how can BJP acquire such a huge mandate is the question. If a student copies and fails with just passing marks, it can go unnoticed, but if a student copies and bags the number one position, something is fishy. Why is the BJP scared of ballot papers?” he said.

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