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Awaiting results, candidates take time off to unwind
The first thing Vile Parle Congress candidate Krishna Hegde did on Wednesday morning was rush to Juhu club for a swim.
The first thing Vile Parle Congress candidate Krishna Hegde did on Wednesday morning was rush to Juhu club for a swim.
“I just could not wait to jump into the pool,” said Hegde. He now plans to take his family for a holiday to Goa.
The gruelling 15 days of campaigning and polling behind them, candidates contesting the Assembly polls took time off to relax and unwind.
Television actor Adesh Bandekar, who contested from the Mahim seat on a Shiv Sena ticket, roamed his constituency alone on foot and chatted with senior citizens.
“I had a lively interaction with some people,” said Bandekar. He also went around Mahim market where a number of stalls selling Diwali lanterns have mushroomed and bought a couple of lanterns.
These Assembly elections were different from the one in the past because delimitation ensured even the heavyweights had to slog it out.
Then there was Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and the Republican-Left Alliance which Gave both, the ruling Congress-Nationalist Congress Party and the opposition saffron alliance, a headache.
So, while days were spent campaigning door-to-door, nights were reserved for community or group meetings to garner support. All that done now, candidates are spending time with family or doing things their schedule otherwise did not permit them to do.
Wadala MNS candidate Pramod Patil, who claimed to have campaigned for more than 16 hours daily, was seen lifting weights at a local gymnasium. Congress candidate from Mumbadevi, Amin Patel, played cricket with young lads in his locality.
He later took his family out for dinner to celebrate his daughter, Simin’s, birthday.
Congress candidate from Colaba Annie Shekhar spent a quiet day doing what she missed during election campaign — reading books. “This is the best thing to relax,” said Shekhar.
However there were some exceptions, who carried on with their daily routine of meeting party workers. Borivli BJP candidate Gopal Shetty went back to office to attend to grievances of local people.
Sena’s Sewri nominee Dagdu Sakpal was seen helping a couple of patients at the KEM Hospital in Parel.
