Compared to a landslide win in the last elections, the BJP-led coalition was leading in only two of the six constituencies in Mumbai even as Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena saw a resurgence with wins in two seats and lead in one at the time of going to press. The BJP-led alliance had won all the six seats in 2019.
“Sympathy among Marathi voters for Uddhav Thackeray and the coming together of Muslim and Dalit voters have resulted in the Uddhav Thackeray Shiv Sena doing exceptionally well in Mumbai. A Shiv Sena candidate won the Mumbai South Central seat, which is traditionally not a Sena seat, for the first time. Voters came together and voted for the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA). The overall combination of BJP failed terribly in Mumbai,” said political analyst Abhay Deshpande.
Of the six constituencies, Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena candidate Anil Desai won Mumbai’s South- Central with a margin of 53,384 votes, Sanjay Patil from the party won from Mumbai’s North East with 29,861 votes while Varsha Gaikwad from the Indian National Congress (INC) won from Mumbai’s North Central seat with 16,514 votes.
BJP candidate Piyush Goyal was ahead with over three lakh votes from Mumbai North while Arwind Sawant from the Uddhav Thackeray Shiv Sena was leading with 52,000 votes from Mumbai’s South constituency. Recounting was done in the Mumbai North West constituency with Ravindra Waikar of the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena trailing behind.
“I thank everyone who supported me and stood by me. I was called as a fake son and Narendra Modi called himself a god. The BJP abused me and they accused me of using the Prime Minister’s picture to win the election. However, the BJP used my father’s picture to win. Everything was taken away from me including my party symbol. The fight has now started. The INDIA coalition came with the only motive of ending the dictatorship. Everyone was troubled by the BJP including Chandrababu Naidu. We will be meeting tomorrow to discuss on the Prime Minister candidate and are confident that the people who have been troubled by the BJP will come and support us,” said Uddhav Thackeray in a media interaction in Mumbai.