Man who sells clothes wins in ghatkopar

Hours after polling ended on Thursday, when most candidates were in their war rooms reading voting patterns, Suresh Aawale, the MNS candidate from Ramabai Nagar, Ghatkopar was away at his stall in Dadar.

Hours after polling ended on Thursday, when most candidates were in their war rooms reading voting patterns, Suresh Aawale, the MNS candidate from Ramabai Nagar, Ghatkopar was away at his stall in Dadar.

Aawale runs a stall outside the station where he stitches and sells ‘bermuda’ shorts. “With a large family to support, there is barely enough for everyone. Despite knowing how poor I am, our party chief Raj Thackeray gave me a ticket,” Awale said. “That’s why I was excited about winning this seat.”

Aawale polled 4,909 votes and defeated the Congress candidate by more than 1,800 votes. He said his aim was to serve people he had stayed amidst for years. “Most people here have been denied basic civic amenities for years. I want to change that.”

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Now, as a corporator, will his stall ever face trouble from the BMC? Aawale laughed off the question: “I have a licence for the stall, so hopefully not.”

As the celebrations began on Friday, Awale was preparing to go to his stall in Dadar to earn his bread.