Losing ‘golden hour’, say aspirants for six seats in Mahayuti
MUMBAI: Aspirants for the six constituencies, where the ruling alliance is yet to announce its candidates, are a frustrated lot as they feel they are losing the ‘golden hour’ of campaigning. They are also worried that the opposition candidates are scoring over them.
The delay has been caused owing to a tussle between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena-led by chief minister Eknath Shinde over seats, although the process of filing nomination began on Friday.
Candidates for the following constituencies remain undecided: Nashik, Palghar, Thane, Mumbai South, Mumbai North Central and Mumbai North West. The ruling parties have locked horns over Mumbai South and Palghar; the buzz is the former will be allotted to the Shinde camp of Sena and the latter to BJP.
Shinde Sena is also expected to contest from Thane, Mumbai North West and Nashik constituencies. BJP likely to get Mumbai North Central, apart from Palghar.
In South Mumbai, both the parties have at least two strong contenders – assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar and state minister Mangalprabhat Lodha are vying for the seat from BJP, while MP Milind Deora and Yashwant Jadhav are eyeing it from Sena.
Aspirants from both ruling parties expect the final announcement for all six seats by Sunday. “It will be decided by CM Eknath Shinde and deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis in a late Friday night meeting. BJP will send its names to the central leadership which is expected to give a go-ahead by Sunday. The Shinde camp of Sena will announce the names by Saturday,” said a BJP leader.
“We are losing momentum due to this uncertainty. Weekends are especially crucial to reach out to voters. Though people know us, a person-to-person outreach goes a long way and changes perception. The lost period is more harmful when the opponents have already completed one or two rounds of campaigning in the constituency,” said one of aspirants from the
Mumbai South constituency.
Barring Mumbai North Central, the opponent Shiv Sena (UBT) announced its candidates at least a month ago, which has given them an edge over the opponents. As a Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) leader said, “This was highlighted by NCP leader and state minister Chhagan Bhujbal before he opted out of the race from Nashik last week,” said a party leader.
Party hopefuls also feel the delay is sending out a negative perception about candidates, raising questions over the elective merit. A leader from Thane said voters perceive the delay as the candidates’ winning chances being weak, “especially when the opposing candidate was announced long ago”.
“It poses another problem on the ground level as in-fighting between alliance partners keeps simmering. Also, there is very little time for icebreaking between the workers. This is being witnessed in Thane and Kalyan,” said the leader.
Shiv Sena MP from Nashik Hemant Godse however said, “Despite the delay, I have not stopped my campaigning. In fact, I have finished one round already. The inauguration of the party offices and development works was done before the code of conduct was announced. It would not be difficult for me to cover the constituency. I expect my name to be announced tomorrow.”