It’s a sign of growing awareness of the value of the vote, and it comes from an area that has the worst human development indicators in Mumbai. A manifesto has been drafted by the Govandi Citizens’ Welfare Forum which must be signed by any candidate who wants the votes of its approximately eight lakh residents.

From shutting down the Deonar dumping ground adjacent to the Govandi slum to upgrading municipal clinics; from establishing a girls’ college there to regularising the citizenship documents of locals, the 14-point manifesto covers almost every aspect of life in this sprawling slum, which bears the brunt of the city’s air pollution and carries the tag of being a communally sensitive area.