What was once a single ward was split into two — M East and West —sometime in the 1950s to facilitate administrative management, according to information from Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). Today, each ward has a distinct personality. With over 70 per cent of its population residing in slum areas, the M East ward in Govandi is among Mumbai’s most socio-economically backward wards. It comprises the slums of Mankhurd and Deonar, as well as adjoining areas such as Shivaji Nagar, Rafiq Nagar, Kamala Nagar, Ramabai Nagar, Ekta Nagar, Gautam Nagar, and Cheetah Camp.

On the other hand, the M West is a mix of major industrial zones for factories of the Rashtriya Chemicals Fertilisers (RCF), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL), and the Tata thermal station, among many others, and posh residential areas and quiet suburbs. The area is also home to India’s first atomic research centre, the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, at Deonar. The area has some of the highest gender disparities, as seen in the numbers of male and female voters across its electoral wards.