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Mumbai North: Piyush Goyal wins by city’s highest margin
It is considered a BJP stronghold, with former union minister Ram Naik having been voted to the Lok Sabha from the seat five times
BJP leader and union minister Piyush Goyal, 59, won the Mumbai North seat, defeating Mumbai Congress vice president Bhushan Patil, 55, by a margin of nearly 3,57,608 votes. Located at the far end of the city, the constituency comprises six assembly segments – Borivali, Dahisar, Magathane, Kandivali East, Charkop and Malad West. It is considered a BJP stronghold, with former union minister Ram Naik having been voted to the Lok Sabha from the seat five times.
Goyal secured a lead when counting commenced on Tuesday, which remained intact as the day progressed. By the end of counting, he had garnered 6,80,146 votes as opposed to Patil’s 3,22,538 votes.
His winning margin, however, was a setback for the BJP, especially because the number of votes polled this time (10,35,493) was greater than the 2019 election (9.88 lakh votes). In terms of turnout too, the Mumbai North constituency clocked the highest among all six Lok Sabha constituencies in Mumbai.
In 2019, BJP’s sitting MP Gopal Shetty had won the seat by securing 7.06 lakh votes, comprising nearly 72% vote share, while Congress candidate and Bollywood actor Urmila Matondkar was the runner up, with 2.41 lakh votes or around 25% vote share. Another Bollywood actor, Govinda, too had contested on a Congress ticket from the seat in 2004, when he defeated the BJP heavyweight and former union minister Ram Naik.
A chartered accountant by training, Goyal is currently a union cabinet minister, holding the portfolios for textiles, commerce and industry, consumer affairs, and food and public distribution. A three-time Rajya Sabha MP from Maharashtra, he is also the leader of the upper house. His mother, the late Chandrakanta Goyal was a three-time BJP MLA from Maharashtra, while his father Ved Prakash Goyal served as the union minister for shipping from 2001 to 2003 and worked closely with Atal Bihari Vajpayee and LK Advani.
The key issues facing the constituency include redevelopment of buildings, rail travel, road traffic, environment and slums.
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