Mumbai: MNS starts door-to-door campaign for BMC polls

The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) is in election mode and has started a door-to-door campaign to meet voters in Dadar, Mahim, Prabhadevi, and Worli to prepare for the civic elections. The region dominated by Marathi-speaking voters, is the stronghold of the Thackeray-led Shiv Sena. "We will visit every household. But we are not demanding votes. We are visiting every household to understand voters' views," said Sandeep Deshpande, MNS leader.

"We are understanding citizens' views about local issues. Most of the time they speak about civic issues. We are trying to solve them. One can say this is an election campaign. But for us it is our duty to understand citizens' issues," said Sachin Sali, an officer bearer of MNS in Dadar.

MNS's former corporator Santosh Dhuri said, "We are meeting voters and getting to know their views and problems." A source in the party said, "There are two types of voters, one category is party-based. Their vote has already been decided and it is really difficult to change it. The other type of voters decide on the day of the election. Their decision depends on the candidate. We are targeting this voter."

Former minister Aaditya Thackeray is an MLA from Worli that has always supported the Shiv Sena. The region from Worli to Mahim is dominated by Marathi voters, which are the backbone of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, as well as the MNS in Mumbai. Dadar is also the residence of MNS chief Raj Thackeray.

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In the 2012 BMC election, the Shiv Sena lost in all wards in the Dadar-Mahim area and MNS's seven corporators won. But in the 2017 election, all Shiv Sena corporators were elected in the Dadar-Mahim area. A Shiv Sena MLA from Mahim, Sada Sarvankar, has joined the Shinde-led party. This was a big setback for the Thackeray-led Sena in their stronghold, where the MNS has now started to campaign.

There are around 2.35 lakh voters in the Mahim constituency which include Dadar and part of the Prabhadevi area. According to the data which was gathered by a political party, about 50 per cent of these voters are Marathi speaking Maharashtrians. The same situation is in the Worli constituency. There are around 2.69 lakh voters and more than 50 per cent of them are Marathi people.