Shiv Sena, BJP unstoppable in Maximum City, win 30/36 seats

MUMBAI: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena swept 30 out of the 36 seats in Mumbai in the 2019 state assembly elections whose results were declared on Thursday.

While the Sena managed to win 14 seats out of the 19 it contested, the BJP won 16 out of 17 seats that it fought on. In 2014, the saffron combine had won 29 seats.

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray’s son Aaditya made his electoral debut in Worli, and won over Nationalist Congress Party’s (NCP) candidate Suresh Mane with a margin of over 67,000 votes as of 10.15 pm on Thursday.

The 29-year-old is the first member from the Thackeray clan to contest an election. However, in a surprising upset, the Sena lost the Bandra east seat — the Thackerays residence falls within this constituency — to Congress.

The city’s mayor, Vishwanath Mahadeshwar, contesting on a Shiv Sena ticket also lost to Zeeshan Siddique (27) of the Congress. Siddique is the son of former Congress minister Baba Siddique. The Sena’s votes were divided after its sitting legislator Trupti Sawant decided to contest as an Independent.

Within the alliance the BJP retained the upper hand, which is significant as control over Mumbai assembly seats is particularly important for the Shiv Sena which rules the city’s civic body, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.

The Bharatiya Janata Party, which typically does well in urban centres has made inroads into several Sena strongholds in the city including in Goregaon, Dahisar and Wadala. According to political observers, ruling combine’s win can be attributed to its infrastructure push in Mumbai.

Sections of the city recently protested the cutting of trees in Aarey Colony, one of the few green lungs of the city, to make way for the Mumbai Metro project.

There are other development projects in the works, including the Mumbai Trans Harbour link which will connect the city to suburban Navi Mumbai, among others. Prominent candidates of Sena and BJP included city BJP chief Mangal Prabhat Lodha, ministers Ashish Shelar, Ravindra Waikar and Vidya Thakur, all of whom won. Congress’ tally in the city slipped from five to three, and its ally NCP won one seat. The BJP, which won 15 seats in 2014, bettered its tally by winning one additional seat on Thursday.

It managed to win Wadala when Congress’ Kalidas Kolambkar, a seven-term MLA, joined the saffron party ahead of the state elections. The BJP also won Borivli and Ghatkopar east seats, where it had denied tickets to sitting minister Vinod Tawde and former minister Prakash Mehta.

Political analyst Surendra Jondhale said that the BJP has gained from the traditional Congress supporters, while the support base of the Sena in urban centres is dwindling.

“The Congress supporters including the business community have migrated to the BJP. The upper middle class and segments of middle class vote for BJP. The Sena’s voters in urban centres are gradually decreasing,” he said.

He added that the Bjp-led government carried out a lot of work on the public transport infrastructure sphere which helped it maintain it tally in Mumbai.

Shiv Sena’s Dilip Lande won against Congress’ Naseem Khan by a narrow margin of 409 votes in Chandivali. Lande, a former corporator, defected from the Maharashtra Navnriman Sena in October 2017.

Yamini Jadhav trumped sitting legislator of All India Majlis-e-ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) Waris Pathan.

The Sena, meanwhile, has retained its sitting seats including Shivadi (Sewri), Vikhroli, Jogeshwari east, and Mahim, among others.

Mahim constituency which houses Sena headquarters was another keenly contested seat in Mumbai as Thackeray’s estranged cousin Raj Thackeray had put up a candidate against Sena’s sitting MLA Sada Sarvankar.

Won against Gopichand Padalkar (Shiv Sena) from Baramati by

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Won against Ram Shinde (BJP) from Karjat-jamkhed by

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Won against BD Gorthekar (BJP) from Bhokar by

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Won against Thorat Jagannath (Congress) from Shirdi by votes

Lost to Sandeep Kshirsagar (NCP) from Beed by

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WITHIN THE ALLIANCE THE BJP RETAINED THE UPPER HAND, WHICH IS SIGNIFICANT AS CONTROL OVER MUMBAI ASSEMBLY SEATS IS IMPORTANT FOR THE SHIV SENA WHICH RULES THE CITY’S MUNICIPAL BODY

was trailing to Gorantyal Kisanrao (Cong) from Jalna by

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Lost to Sanjay Jagtap (Congress) from Purandar by

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