BJP retains hold of Mumbai North but wins with lesser margin
Illustration/Uday Mohite
The Sena UBT has not only retained its fort but also reinforced its hold after the MVA won four of six constituencies in Mumbai. Meanwhile, after recounting votes, the EC declared that Ravindra Waikar of Shinde Sena won in North West by 48 votes, a single victory of the party in Mumbai. Uddhav Thackery announced that they will challenge the decision. Though the BJP retained the Mumbai North seat, the winning margin was lesser than that of the previous two elections. Congress managed a victory in one constituency in North Central.
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BJP keeps Mumbai North
Piyush Goyal secured the safest seat for BJP in Maharashtra with over 5.5 lakh votes, a margin of 3.5 lakh votes. Historically, the BJP has held a firm grip on this Lok Sabha seat, with its stalwart Ram Naik securing a victory five times previously. In 2014 and 2019, BJP’s Gopal Shetty won the seat with a margin of over 4.5 lakh votes. Goyal had taken an early lead on Tuesday and kept it till the end, but could manifest it into a big win. The Congress’ Bhushan Patil got 2,42,778 votes.
“BJP has taken a lead of 2 lakh votes and it is a victory for PM Modi. I am thankful to voters of Mumbai North who showed faith in me and I will be ready in their service,” said Goyal after securing a lead.
Shiv Sena (UBT) party workers celebrate their victory at Shiv Sena Bhavan. Pic/Ashish Raje
The BJP had given tickets to its central minister who is a cabinet minister and Rajya Sabha MP. He was contesting elections for the first time and BJP announced his name in March itself whereas Congress delayed announcing its candidate for almost a month. Finally, Congress gave candidacy to the party’s Mumbai vice-president Bhushan Patil who wasn’t a well-known face. He unsuccessfully contested the elections from Borivli. Congress even approached Sena UBT leader Vinod Ghosalkar, a well-known leader in the area, to contest on a Congress ticket but he refused to do so.
Previous victors
BJP’s Gopal Shetty won over Congress’ Nirupam by a significant margin after securing 6,64,004 votes as opposed to Nirupam’s 2,17,422 votes. Shetty was also victorious in 2019 when he got 7,06,678 (71.4 per cent) votes, while Urmila Matondkar on a Congress ticket received 2,41431 (24.39 per cent) votes, handing the BJP candidate a victory by 4,65,247 votes.
Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Amol Kirtikar’s supporters at the Nesco Centre
Mumbai North West
This region saw one of the three close fights in Mumbai, wherein Amol Kirtikar from Sena UBT and son of sitting MP Gajanan Kirtikar (from Shinde Sena) got 4,52,596 votes. Ravinder Waikar, who switched over from Sena UBT to the Shinde Sena just two months before the election, won after securing 4,52,644 votes.
The seat was in the headlines after Amol Kirtikar received notice from the Enforcement Directorate (ED), for his alleged involvement in the Khichdi Scam during COVID, within two hours of Sena UBT declaring his candidacy. Earlier, the Mahayuti tried to convince Gajanan Kirtikar to be its candidate. But he refused to contest against his son. Waikar, a four-time corporator and MLA, switched parties after the ED began to investigate him in a case registered by the Mumbai police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) in September 2023. The case was regarding the alleged illegal construction of a five-star hotel on a plot reserved for a garden.
BJP candidate Piyush Goyal at the NESCO Center. Pics/Satej Shinde
The constituency was again in the limelight when the BJP alleged that 1993 bomb blast accused Ibrahim Musa alias Baba Chauhan was campaigning for and supporting Kirtikar during a rally in Andheri West on May 8. There were also accusations against Kirtikar of supporting his son by undermining the interests of the Mahayuti alliance.
On counting day, the lead was flipping with each round. In the morning, Amol was leading with a margin of around 2,000 votes. By afternoon Waikar had taken a lead with 1,500- 2,000 votes.
Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Sanjay Dina Patil celebrates victory with his supporters. Pic/Shadab Khan
6
No. of parliamentary constituencies in Mumbai
Previous victors
Lok Sabha 2019
Gajanan Kirtikar (Shiv Sena) secured with 5.70 lakh votes against Sanjay Nirupam of Congress (3.09 lakh votes).
Lok Sabha 2014
Gajanan Kirtikar (Shiv Sena) won with 4.64 lakh votes against Congress’ Gurudas Kamat who received 2.81 lakh votes
Last minute win for Cong in North Central
After trailing till the last rounds, Varsha Gaikwad, Mumbai president of Congress, managed to win the seat by a small margin of 4,45,545 votes. Ujjwal Nikam of BJP lost by 16,514 votes.
Gaikwad, the Congress candidate, wasn’t initially ready to contest from this seat as she was eager to contest from Mumbai South Central when Sena UBT declared its candidate without much discussion with Congress. The BJP took its time before giving a ticket to advocate-turned-politician Ujjwal Nikam after at least three MLAs turned down the offer to contest the seat. Nikam has handled several high-profile cases including that of terrorist Ajmal Kasab. Both candidates were declared just before filing their nominations with hardly 15 days left for campaigning. Gaikwad, after the declaration of her victory, told the media that she was satisfied with the result and would start working for the people in her constituency.
For the last two elections Poonam Mahajan was elected to the seat with a high margin, but the BJP refused her a ticket after getting negative remarks from ground party workers. Out of six Assembly segments, two each are with the BJP and Shiv Sena (Shinde) each one each is with the Sena (UBT) and Congress.
Previous victors
Lok Sabha 2019
Poonam Mahajan of BJP
won with 4.87 lakh votes against Priya Dutt of Congress who got 3.56 lakh votes
Lok sabha 2014
Poonam Mahajan (BJP)
won with 4.78 lakh votes against Priya Dutt (Congress) who got 2.91 lakh votes
Mumbai North East
Even after PM Modi partook in a special roadshow in Ghatkopar, BJP candidate Mihir Kotecha lost the seat with around 25,093 votes. Sanjay Dina Patil, an ex-MP, once again won from the constituency on a Sena (UBT) ticket.
Patil was leading since morning with a very low margin. The margin increased by the end of counting. Of the six Assembly seats in the constituency, three are with BJP, two are with Sena (UBT) and one with Samajwadi Party. Upper and lower-middle-class Marathi and Gujarati speakers reside in Mulund, Bhandup and Vikhroli, which are considered BJP/Sena vote banks. After the split in the Sena, it was interesting to watch the dynamics of the voters here. Muslim and socially deprived voters were also a key point in this area.
There were two major incidents that occurred in the constituency just before voting day. The election campaign of Mihir Kotecha got momentum when BJP declared PM Modi’s road show in Ghatkopar on May 15. Meanwhile, a 120x120 sq ft hoarding in Ghatkopar collapsed two days before on May 13. There were even allegations of money being distributed and police action on party workers. The election commission (EC) staff seized around R1.65 lakh cash from Kotecha’s office on May 19, after office bearers could not provide the necessary paperwork. The police arrested five party workers of Sena UBT after they manhandled EC officials who were leaving Kotecha’s office.
Previous victors
Lok Sabha 2019
Manoj Kotak (BJP)
won with 5.14 lakh votes against Sanjay Dina Patil (NCP) with 2.88 lakh votes
Lok Sabha 2014
Kirit Somaiya (BJP)
won with 5.25 lakh votes against Sanjay Dina Patil (NCP) who got 2.08 lakh votes
Sena UBT surprise in South Central
Anil Desai from Sena UBT managed a surprise win in Mumbai South Central, where Dharavi was at the centre of campaigning. Rahul Shewale, a two-time MP from the area, was defeated with a margin of 5,2301 votes.
Uddhav Thackeray declared the nomination of Desai from South Mumbai where Congress was interested in contesting the election. The seat was considered a tough one due to strong opposition from Rahul Shewale. While talking to the media, Desai said, “I have taken a lead as of now and you can see the trend in the overall country is not like what it was earlier. Politics, especially, in the last two and half years, was concerning and state voters have shown faith in big leaders like Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar.”
Previous victors
Lok Sabha 2019
Rahul Shewale of the Shiv Sena
retained the seat after gaining 4,24,913 votes and defeating Eknath M Gaikwad (Congress)
Lok Sabha 2014
Rahul Shewale (Shiv Sena)
emerged victorious in this seat, securing 3,81,008 votes while Eknath M Gaikwad (Congress) came second with 2,42,828 votes.
South Mumbai
Arvind Sawant, a two-time MP from South Mumbai managed to win for the third consecutive election with a fair margin of over 50,000 votes. In a close contest with Yamini Jadhav (Shinde Sena) he managed to secure 16,000 more votes.
Sawant was Thackeray’s unanimous choice in the 2014 Lok Sabha election. He was considered a weak candidate in front of Congress’s Milind Deora, but emerged victorious in 2014 and 2019. Jadhav is an MLA from Byculla who was among the 39 legislators who pledged support to Eknath Shinde when he revolted against Uddhav Thackeray in June 2022. Jadhav was picked after much deliberation, with the party considering various names including Milind Deora, and the BJP evincing interest in putting up a candidate for the seat. The names of Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar and of BJP MLA Mangal Prabhat Lodha were also being touted as prospective candidates in case Shinde acceded to the BJP’s demand to hand over the seat. The Shinde
Sena had, however, been insistent that it would contest the seat.
Previous victors
Lok Sabha 2019
Arvind Sawant (Shiv Sena)
secured 4,21,937 votes to defeat Milind Deora (Congress) who got 3,21,870 votes
Lok Sabha 2014
Arvind Sawant (Shiv Sena)
won by getting 3,74,609 votes, defeating Milind Deora (Congress) who got 2,46,045 votes
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