Maha polls: The fight for Bandra (East) constituency

The city’s first citizen, former high-profile Congress minister’s son to former Mumbai Congress chief – all are vying for the Bandra (East) seat.

The city’s first citizen, former high-profile Congress minister’s son to former Mumbai Congress chief – all are vying for the Bandra (East) seat.

HT Image

For Shiv Sena, the constituency is important as it houses Matoshree, the residence of Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray. Party nominee Prakash Sawant won it in the 2014 elections. In 2015, it saw a high-profile byelection after Sawant passed away. Former chief minister Narayan Rane, who fought on a Congress ticket, faced a humiliating defeat at the hands of Sena debutant Trupti Sawant, widow of Prakash Sawant. The constituency covers slum areas such as Behrampada, Golibar and Bharat Nagar, as well as the middle-class areas of Government Colony, MIG Colony and Kher Nagar.

Currently, Trupti Sawant is facing a challenge from mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar, who is lobbying hard to bag party nomination from this constituency.

After the Lok Sabha elections, Mahadeshwar has increased his interaction with voters and is seen spending most of his time in this constituency. “I am an aspirant for this seat,” said Mahadeshwar. In response, Trupti Sawant said, “It is natural that there will be aspirants for any seat. I have done a lot of work in my constituency.”

For local Sena workers, the late Prakash Bala Sawant was a popular leader and his name still evokes respect among a section of the electorate, say her aides.

The Congress, too, has several aspirants for the seat, which the party won from 1999 to 2009. The party is banking on a significant number of minority and Dalit voters. Zeeshan Siddique, the son of former minister Baba Siddique, has thrown his hat in the ring and is seen as a frontrunner. However, local Congress leaders are not too keen, as they see him as an outsider because his father represented the Bandra (West) seat for three terms (1999-2014). Similarly, former Mumbai Congress chief Janaradan Chandurkar, who represented the constituency thrice, has emerged as the dark horse. Also in the race is Rajya Sabha MP Hussain Dalwai.

The Congress which witnessed a washout in the recent Lok Sabha elections, however, sees a hope in this constituency, as its Lok Sabha candidate Priya Dutt got a lead of 1,276 votes in this Assembly segment against BJP rival Poonam Mahajan.

Mumbai Congress general secretary Sanjeev Bagadi, who was defeated in the 2014 Assembly elections from this seat, said Baba Siddique was using his influence to get it for Zeeshan. “We worked for the past five years against the Sena and now we see Siddique using his clout to promote his son. Ideally, Baba should have fielded his son from Bandra (West). This is an injustice against local leaders,” said Bagadi.

Baba Siddique dismissed all claims, saying his son was seeking the ticket on his own merit. “My son is the general secretary of the Youth Congress who was elected with the highest number of votes in Mumbai. He has been politically active in Bandra (East). This dynasty propaganda is spread by jealous people,” said Siddique.

In his defence, Zeeshan said, “I started medical vans to provide medical aid to the poor. My Youth Congress team undertook door-to-door campaign during the Lok Sabha polls.”