Mumbai North East: Marathi-Muslim wave for Sanjay Dina Patil

Patil bagged 4,50,937 votes accounting for 48.67% of the vote share while Kotecha secured 4,21,076 votes or 45.45% of the vote share

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Dina Patil, 55, won from the Mumbai North East constituency, defeating BJP’s Mihir Kotecha, 49, by a margin of 29,861 votes. Patil bagged 4,50,937 votes accounting for 48.67% of the vote share while Kotecha secured 4,21,076 votes or 45.45% of the vote share. Though the margin of victory was not large, Patil maintained his lead throughout the day except for a brief while in the afternoon, when the ninth round of counting was on.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Dina Patil, 55, won from the Mumbai North East constituency. (Kunal Patil/HT Photo)

Patil represented the constituency as an MP from 2004 to 2009, when he was with the Congress, but lost the two subsequent elections. In 2019, when he contested as the NCP candidate, he lost to the BJP’s Manoj Kotak, who secured 56.61% of the votes; Patil’s vote share then was 31.70%.

The constituency comprises six assembly segments – Mulund, Vikhroli, Bhandup West, Ghatkopar East, Ghatkopar West and Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar; three of these are represented by the BJP, while the Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Samajwadi Party have two and one MLAs, respectively. The population includes a mix of Marathis, Gujaratis and Muslims, who together comprise a majority of voters. Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes comprise the other major inhabitants, accounting for 8.03% and 1.21% of the population, respectively.

During the campaign, while the BJP invested heavily in constituency, Patil was not allowed to campaign in some areas. The BJP then claimed that the minority-dominated area of Mankhurd and Shivaji Nagar was against them. Kotecha, in fact, went one step further, saying he would change the name of the area to Chhatrapati Shivaji Nagar. Minorities in the area responded in one voice, voting en masse for Patil, said sources in the BJP.