Poonam Mahajan, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) sitting MP for Mumbai’s North Central constituency, defeated Congress candidate Priya Dutt by a margin of 1,30,005 votes.
The contest between the two was expected to be tough but it turned out to be an easy win for Mahajan though her winning margin was lower compared to the 1.86 lakh votes she won in 2014.
Mahajan secured 4,86,672 votes (53.97%) against Dutt’s 3,56,667 (39.55%).
“This victory belongs to each and every party activist of BJP and their relentless determination and commitment,” said Mahajan following her victory. “They worked tirelessly to propagate our vision for a new India and the wave of development implemented by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in the last five years under PM Narendra Modi,” she added.
Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) candidate Abdur Rehman Anjaria secured the third position with 33,703 votes (3.74%) and 10,669 voters chose to use the option of NOTA.
Since the start of vote counting in the morning at NESCO in Goregaon, Mahajan maintained a steady lead.
The Modi wave is considered as one of the key reasons for Mahajan’s victory, while Dutt’s defeat has been attributed to the rise of VBA. “The people’s verdict is very clear, and I respect their decision,” stated Dutt on Twitter.
The Mumbai North Central contest was in the spotlight as it pitted the daughters of two prominent leaders — BJP’s late Pramod Mahajan and Congress’ late Sunil Dutt — against each other.
{{/usCountry}}The Mumbai North Central contest was in the spotlight as it pitted the daughters of two prominent leaders — BJP’s late Pramod Mahajan and Congress’ late Sunil Dutt — against each other.
{{/usCountry}}A total of 20 candidates contested from Mumbai North Central constituency that spread from Bandra to Kurla (East) and Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) to Chandivli.
Of the 16.47 lakh registered voters, 8.95 lakh exercised their franchise.