Lok Sabha elections 2024: MVA gaining momentum in Mumbai North West

Amol Kirtikar meeting with members of Shree Sai Baba Charitable Trust mandal at Versova, on the occasion of Ram Navami on Wednesday

It appears that Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) Mumbai North West candidate Amol Kirtikar is gaining momentum and establishing a significant advantage, given that his opponents have not yet settled on any candidates. In the meantime, Kirtikar has initiated an extensive campaign, diligently reaching out to both small and large mandals in his constituency.

"The good part about our Lok Sabha candidate Amol-bhaiya is that he is very approachable to everyone and he has already started meeting the people in our Lok Sabha constituency. His plus point is that he comes from a well-educated background and has a good vision for eco-friendly development works in the constituency. I feel our party will win this seat with a huge margin because the opposition has yet not found suitable candidates," said Sudhakar Ahire, shakha pramukh of Shiv Sena (UBT), Ward 68. Kirtikar has already started extensive campaigning in the six Assembly segments and has also been meeting people from all Ganpati, Navratri, Dahi Handi mandals and various religious mandals.

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Meanwhile, there have been several speculations and discussions in political circles about who will be the candidates for the Shinde Sena and National Democratic Alliance (NDA) for the Mumbai North West seat. It was also speculated that actor Govinda Ahuja who joined Eknath Shinde faction recently might get the ticket from North West, but it does not seem that he will be fielded. There were also discussions in political circles that Marathi actor Sharad Ponkshe and Shinde faction MLA Ravindra Waikar might contest, but those speculations have cooled down. The recent buzz in the constituency and political circles is that former Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam might be given a ticket but there are also talks that NDA wants to give a Marathi face as the constituency has a high percentage of Marathi voters.

If we look at the data, the Mumbai North West constituency has a mix of population. However, the Marathi, Muslim, Gujarati and North Indian votes play a crucial role. Around 37.2 per cent are Marathi voters, followed by 19.3 per cent Muslims, 18.3 per cent North Indian, and 12.4 per cent Gujarati/Marwadi voters. There are also South Indian (5.6 per cent), Christian (2.8 per cent), others (2.1 per cent), Punjabi (1.3 per cent) and Sindhi (1 per cent) voters. The six Assembly segments of the Mumbai North West constituency include Andheri East, Versova, Andheri West, Jogeshwari East, Dindoshi and Goregaon. Of these, three are with BJP, two with Shiv Sena (UBT) and one with the Shinde Shiv where Ravindra Waikar from UBT.

2019 Lok Sabha statistics

During the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Shiv Sena leader Gajanan Kirtikar who had contested as an NDA candidate secured 5,70,063 votes and won with a lead of 2,60,328. Sanjay Nirupam who had contested on a Congress ticket had secured 3,09,735 votes and was the runner-up. Suresh Sundar Shetty of the Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi secured 23,422 votes to emerge third.

2014 Lok Sabha statistics

During the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Kirtikar who had contested as a NDA candidate secured 4,64,820 votes and had won with a lead of 1,83,028. Gurdas Kamat who contested on a Congress ticket secured 2,81,792 votes, while actor-director Mahesh Manjrekar who contested on an MNS ticket secured 66,088 votes to take the third position.

6
No of Assembly segments in Mumbai North West constituency