Western suburb gave BJP its edge over Sena

MUMBAI: Though the Shiv Sena dominated its former ally, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by winning more seats in the island city and in the eastern suburbs, the latter had an edge in the western suburbs, securing 1.2 lakh more votes. About 55.95% of the BJP’S total votes came from the western suburbs, in which Marathi, Gujarati and north Indian voters are dominant.

The Shiv Sena managed to earn 28.78% of 22.90 lakh votes polled in western suburbs, whereas 33.29% of the total votes were scored by BJP. While the 5.64% of voters in the western suburbs voted for the Maharastra Navnirman Sena (MNS), it failed to win a single seat there.

The Shiv Sena suffered a setback owing to a loss of seats in its strongholds such as Goregaon, Jogeshwari and Andheri. The BJP dominated the votes, winning with a margin of more than 1,000 votes in a majority of Shiv Sena strongholds.

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) won two seats but got only 2.68% of the total votes polled in the western suburbs.

“We won more seats in the western suburbs as we have more MLAS there,” said a BJP officer from the western suburbs.

“About 45.66% of our total votes came from the western sub- urbs. It is not that we have fared badly there, but we must work on regaining our stronghold,” said a Shiv Sena leader. The Shiv Sena has an upper hand over the BJP by thin margin of two seats and 51293 votes, despite having contested on 32 seats more.

The Shiv Sena contested 227 seats and won 84, whereas the BJP contested from 195 seats and won 82.

The Shiv Sena was dominant in the island city — that comprises Marathi heartland areas such as Dadar, Mahim and Worli — with 30.45% of 12,75,741 votes polled here. The BJP came second with 23.08% of the votes.

While the Shiv Sena came out on top in the eastern suburbs, garnering 25.75% of the 15,37,309 votes polled here, the MNS played spoilsport by gaining 9.90% of the total votes polled here. As much as 38.56% of the MNS’S votes came from the eastern suburbs, upsetting the BJP and the Shiv Sena’s calculations. MUMBAI: About 180 candidates from the Maharashtra Navnir man Sena (MNS), Samajwad Party (SP) and Nationalist Con gress Party (NCP) lost their deposits for polling one-sixth of the total votes polled in their wards. Around 90 candidates from the Congress, 20 from the Shiv Sena and 45 from the Bharat iya Janata Party (BJP) could not secure the votes needed to retain their deposits. As many as 200 independents lost deposits.

Each candidate has to pay a deposit of Rs5,000 when they file a nomination for the Brihanmum bai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls. Women, SC/ST and OBC candidates must pay Rs2,500.

According to State Election Commission (SEC) rules, if the candidate is unable to secure one sixth of the total votes polled in the electoral ward, he will lose his deposit. Of the 2,275 candidates who contested the civic polls last week, 1,162 or 51% of the candi dates lost their deposits. Accord ing to data, the candidates collec tively lost Rs43.63 lakh.

A total of 51,03,913 votes were polled in the 227 electoral wards

Data released on Thursday shows that 19 candidates who contested from ward 139 in M/ East (Shivaji Nagar, Govandi) collectively lost Rs92,500 – the largest sum lost in any of the city’s 227 wards. SP candidate Akhtar Abdulrazaq Kureish secured more than 6,000 votes defeating the other 21 candidates

In T ward (Mulund), where the BJP swept all six seats, as many as 62 candidates lost their collec tive deposit amounting to more than Rs2 lakh. According to data analysed by HT, more than 10 candidates have lost their tota deposit — about Rs22.52 lakh — in 42 electoral wards. The money will go to the BMC’S treasury department.