LS poll: Congress-NCP led in only 5 of 36 Mumbai Assembly segments

An analysis of the 2019 Lok Sabha results has revealed that the opposition Congress-NCP combine managed to lead in only five of the 36 Assembly segments that make up the six Lok Sabha seats in Mumbai. The analysis, based on data shared by election officials here, also shows that the Marathi vote bank strongly remained with the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party, despite efforts by the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) to breach it.

Among the seats, opposition candidates managed to take a lead in were Dharavi (SC) from Mumbai South Central (8991 votes), Mankhurd from Mumbai North East (41670 votes), Mumbadevi (34869) and Byculla (28675) from Mumbai South and Bandra East (1276) from Mumbai North Central. The Congress' sitting MLAs, Naseem Khan from Chandivli and Aslam Sheikh from Malad West, could not ensure lead to party candidates from Mumbai North Central and Mumbai North respectively, the data shows.

Ahead of Lok Sabha elections, all parties had asked their MLAs to work for the respective candidates and were also warned of losing their Assembly tickets if a lead was not had from their segments. In the 2014 Assembly polls, the Congress had won only four seats in Mumbai, comprising Mumbadevi, Chandivli, Dharavi (SC) and Malad West.

While it added three new assembly seats to the list, two of its sitting MLAs could not perform as per expectations. The Congress-NCP alliance has fared better than the BJP-Sena combine only in Muslim and Dalit dominated Assembly segments, said a political analyst.

It also showed that the MNS could not transfer its vote share to the Congress-NCP. In Sewri Assembly seat, where Thackeray held a public rally, Shiv Sena candidate Arvind Sawant got 91,497 votes in comparison to 41,645 votes for the Congress' Milind Deora.

Similarly, in Marathi dominated Worli Assembly seat, the Sena candidate received 78,653 votes while the Congress managed to get only 42,499 votes. Similarly, in Mahim Assembly seat, which covers Dadar area - a traditional battlefield between the Sena and the MNS, Sena's Rahul Shewale managed to get 91,635 votes against 38,145 votes for the Congress' Eknath Gaikwad.

In Mumbai North East constituency, despite the BJP fielding a Gujarati-speaking candidate, Manoj Kotak, and the history of previous MP Kirit Somaiya taking the Sena leadership head-on, the Marathi-speaking electors in Bhandup and Vikhroli Assembly segments voted overwhelmingly for Kotak. Kotak got 97,269 and 69,618 votes respectively in these two assembly seats while NCP's Sanjay Dina Patil received only 50,346 and 41,502 votes. Thackeray had held a rally in Bhandup as well.

In Mumbai North, the BJP's Gopal Shetty secured a lead against actor-turned-politician Urmila Matondkar of the Congress in all six Assembly seats. Former Mumbai Congress president Sanjay Nirupam too could not surpass his Sena rival Gajanan Kirtikar in any of the Assembly segments in the parliamentary constituency.