Lok Sabha elections 2024: Will Alavani pip Mahajan to Mumbai North Central seat?

BJP MLA from Vile Parle Parag Alavani may possibly be the ldquodark horserdquo as his partyrsquos pick for the Mumbai North Central parliamentary seat According to BJP insiders the party is not keen on renominating its sitting MP Poonam Mahajan and Mumbai unit chief Ashish Shelar has said he wishes to remain in the stateSo BJPrsquos twoterm MLA from Vile Parle Advocate Parag Alavanirsquos name is being considered as the partyrsquos candidate for the seatBJP MLA and Mumbai party chief Ashish Shelar and BJP MP Poonam Mahajan at an election rally File picAlavani a hardcore RSS man has been associated with the party for nearly four decades right from campus politics to ABVP days In early 2000 for two terms he was elected as corporator to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC and now represents Vile Parle for the second termmidday in its edition on Sunday reported on how the BJP is looking for a Marathi face to contest the Mumbai North Central parliamentary seat as the party has already fielded two nonMarathi candidatesmdashPiyush Goyal from North Mumbai and Mihir Kotecha for the NorthEast constituency There are six parliamentary constituencies in Mumbai of which the BJP has announced candidates for two seatsBJP Mumbai unit chief Ashish Shelar and MLA Parag Alavani File picsA senior BJP functionary on the condition of anonymity confirmed the development stating that the Delhi leadership is of the opinion that Shelar is the candidate the party can surely win the seat with as sitting MP Poonam Mahajanrsquos absence being felt by voters in the constituency has dented the partyrsquos vote bank But since Shelar is not keen a survey was done to gauge who could be another option as the right candidate for the seatThe seat has been with the BJP for the last two elections Poonam daughter of former minister Pramod Mahajan is a sitting MP but the survey report is said to be going against her Before Poonam the seat was represented by veteran Congress leader and actor Sunil Duttrsquos daughtermdashPriya She won from the constituency in 2009 but lost in 2014 and 2019 to Poonam who bagged 486 lakh votes in 2019 as against the 356 lakh votes Dutt received2014Year Poonam Mahajan won Mumbai North Central seatlsquoMVArsquos minority candidate will make victory easyrsquoAs pressure on MVA is mounting to nominate candidates from minority communities for the Mumbai North Central parliamentary seat BJP party workers claim that if this is done winning polls would be easy for them ldquoIf MVA fields candidates from minority communities it will not only polarise the polls but even party workers and leaders from the Uddhav Thackeray camp will not put their shoulders on the wheel in such a situation This will help the BJP candidaterdquo a party worker said In the seatsharing formula the BJP has bagged this seat from Mahayuvti and Congress will be nominating its candidate on behalf of the Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA alliance However none of the camps announced candidates