Mumbai North East: Key players, issues, and voter dynamics for 2024 elections

The Mumbai North East constituency comprises six Vidhan Sabha Legislative Assembly segments including Mulund Vikhroli Bhandup West Ghatkopar West Ghatkopar East and Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar It will witness a showdown between BJPrsquos sitting MLA Mihir Kotecha and Shiv Sena UBTrsquos former MP Sanjay Dina Patil Prime Minister Narendra Modi has chosen to conduct a roadshow in this constituency for its closeness with Thane and MMRKey issues in a nutshellThe key issues here are the two big dumping grounds in the constituency where garbage from the entire city is dumped affecting all residentsrsquo health and welfare The area also lacks multispeciality hospitals and stateoftheart healthcare facilities Relocating dumping grounds addressing the pollution and sanitation problems and the fiery issue of shifting projectaffected people PAPs from various parts of the city including Dharavi to Mulund East are the prime issues here Also the salt land is opening up and besides the Metro rail car shed coming up at Kanjurmarg more PAPs are likely to be shifted here The area spanning Bhandup Vikhroli and Kanjurmarg was an industrial belt It has rapidly changed into a residential area with huge towers complexes and colonies coming up but with limited civic infra leading to problems of drainage and waterConstituency profileThe constituency has nearly 46 per cent Marathi population and also consists of Muslimpopulated MankhurdGovandi GujaratiMarwari dominated Ghatkopar Marathispeaking voters in Vikhroli Kanjurmarg and Bhandup and a mixed population in Mulund While the Uddhav Sena has been raking up the issue of Marathi vs Gujarati focused on removing dumping ground and PAPs saying no work done by sitting MP the BJP MP has in his manifesto said he will work for development promising a Mulund terminus removal of dumping ground and PAPsPast election resultsIn the Lok Sabha 2019 elections Manoj Kotak of the BJP party who won polled 514599 votes and the runnerup was Patil Sanjay Dina of the NCP party The margin of victory was 288113 votes In 2009 the BJP said Dina Patil had won as he had received support from the MNS but this time the MNS is with the BJPMulundChetan Bordawekar Mulund residentResidents of Mulund East have been fighting for the scrapping of the PAPs project A project to shift all PAPs including those from Dharavi is in process Residents of Mulund West have been asking for better traffic conditions and expediting Metro work which has led to narrowing down roadsVikhroliVikhroli residents have been suffering due to the issue of the dumping ground which was located from Mulund to Kanjurmarg It leaves a stench in the locality affecting normal life Also the VikhroliKanjurmarg belt has remained underdeveloped and needs better infrastructure and upgrades at par with the growing residential towers hereBhandup WestOriginally an industrial belt now being bombarded with residential towers the basic infrastructure here is skewed It leads to problems of traffic and congestion on the streetsGhatkopar WestThe narrow LBS road and incomplete works of the Metro add to the problems here The key issue of upgrading the existing railway station of Ghatkopar which is extremely crowded due to the integration of the Metro has been a point of discussion among commuters Also the issue of improved connectivity is the need of the hourGhatkopar EastScores of building redevelopment issues are being faced by residents here in areas like Pant Nagar and areas like Ramabai Nagar which are looking for cluster development Seamless movement of highway traffic and other infra issues also need attentionMankhurd Shivaji NagarThe issue here again is the dumping ground leading to health risks to the residents here The issues of sanitation and pollution are other key factors which have been affecting residents here The effects of the dumping ground have affected the lifespan of residents here with many of them affected due to improper living conditionsVoicesMario Jose Rodrigues Vikhroli resident vice chairman of Vikhroli unit of the Bombay Catholic SabhaNauseating stench from Kanjurmarg dumping ground Stench prevails from Vikhroli to Nahur on the eastern side There is need to stop this daily nuisance which has led to health hazard and public nuisanceDhanashree Sanjay Prabhu Mulund residentThe government plans to add 40000 to 50000 people to Mulund The population of Mulund east is around 150000 Plus these PAP indulge in illegal activities It will be really unsafe for myself and my 11yearold daughter I want to run away from my city All these PAP will be there with our children in schools gardens and tuition classes which can affect their cultural social and educational life In the evening there is a huge traffic jam near the highways This distance is barely 5 minutes but it takes more than 45 minutes to enter the Mulund platform Markets hotels and roads will explode in the future due to population The current MP has cheated us by bringing the PAP hereCommunitywise votersMarathi 4637Gujarati Marwari 121537North Indian 144937Christian 14237Muslim 176037South Indian 4737Other 34437