From celebrations to chaos: Mood across party offices

While the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) office at Nariman Point saw a flurry of activity, the Mumbai Congress office wore a deserted look, as the Maharashtra Assembly

While the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) office at Nariman Point saw a flurry of activity, the Mumbai Congress office wore a deserted look, as the Maharashtra Assembly election results were announced on Thursday.

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Some areas in the city also saw clashes between supporters of different parties.

Two screens were set up at the BJP office to give workers updates on the leads and trails. Expecting a huge crowd, the party put up hundreds of chairs and even got a dhol taasha group.

The celebrations began in the afternoon, once it became clear the BJP was the leading party.

On the other hand, very few supporters or party workers were seen at the Mumbai Congress office.

Those who were present at the counting centres, too, left, once the trends showed their candidates would lose.

In the Dahisar Assembly constituency, all seven opposition candidates walked out of the counting centre, alleging discrepancies in the numbering of the EVMs and wrote to the Election Commission (EC) over the issue.

Candidates said the serial numbers on three control units did not match those listed by their polling agents.

“We asked the EC officials to stop the process, but they went ahead with the counting,” said Arun Sawant, the Congress candidate from the constituency.

Chandivali saw a fierce battle between Shiv Sena’s Dilip Lande and INC’s Naseem Khan. As Lande secured a lead of 4,951 votes against Khan in the early rounds of counting, his supporters cheered.

However, as rounds progressed, Khan took a lead of 358 votes, leading to a tiff between the two groups. Workers blocked traffic on both the ends resulting in chaos.

The Mumbai Police personnel, along with riot control police, had to remove supporters of both the candidates to maintain law and order.

At the BJP office in Kandivali East, supporters started to celebrate – clicking selfies flaunting the victory symbol – even before results were announced.

“We knew that Atul Bhatkhalkar would get a huge lead,” said a supporter.

The loss in home turf Bandra East seat, which houses the Thackeray residence, Matoshree, in Kalanagar, saw Sena workers going quiet, even as Congress workers stepped out to celebrate their victory.

The Sena’s other homeground, the Mahim seat that houses Sena Bhavan, however, saw a grand celebration.