N­W suburbs: Ideal target for Sena in BMC elections

MUMBAI:The Shiv Sena is poised to aim for more corporators, especially in the north-western suburbs, in the upcoming Mumbai civic polls, with the redrawing of Mumbai’s

MUMBAI:The Shiv Sena is poised to aim for more corporators, especially in the north-western suburbs, in the upcoming Mumbai civic polls, with the redrawing of Mumbai’s electoral map increasing the number of seats in several administrative wards with a Sena majority.

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HT studied the effect of delimitation on 24 administrative wards with respect to the councilor wards of 2012 and the parties dominating them. The analysis, however, does not take into consideration the ward reservations, which will equally impact all contesting parties.

According to data analysed, the number of seats in the Sena-dominated wards of R-North, P-North, P-South and L-ward are cumulatively set to increase to 51 from the current 44. The Shiv Sena currently holds five out of seven seats in R-North, six out of 16 seats in P-North, six out of eight seats in P-South, and a third of the total 15 seats in L ward.

No other party, with the exception of Congress in R-South ward, has managed to get this benefit out of the delimitation, where the ward in which it has a clear majority is set to get more seats. The Congress holds six out of 11 seats in R-South, which will now get 13 councilor wards.

Vinod Ghosalkar, former Sena legislator from Dahisar, said, “Politically, an increase in the number of wards in areas where our party has a significant presence is definitely an opportunity to do better, electorally speaking. Some wards are covered under the CRZ , which will make work impossible, while some are so small that they consist of just about ten buildings.”

Besides, the analysis shows four other administrative wards that are Sena bastions will remain at status quo with the same number of seats, minimising any dent on the party’s strongholds. These are K East , where the Sena currently holds nine out of 15 seats, F-North, where it holds four out of ten seats with the BJP a close second, F-South, where Sena controls five out of seven seats, and G-North.

Although the MNS currently dominates G-North, the area has traditionally been the Sena’s mainstay region for years with the party having first roared from here and its headquarters, Sena Bhavan, too located here.

For the BJP, which contested 72 seats in 2012 and won 31, the only major benefit out of the delimitation exercise is at least two administrative wards that are its strongholds will not see any change in the number of wards. These are R Central, where the BJP has clinched half of the total ten seats, an T ward, where it controls four of the six seats. The Congress, too, will benefit in this respect in two wards—K West and H-West —but will feel a pinch in wards A, B and M West and to a certain extent E , where the party has a significant voter base. These wards will cumulatively have 19 seats from the earlier 23

Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam maintains the redrawing will not bring a clear disadvantage to any single party.