Poonam Mahajan never kept promises, is barely seen in constituency, say BJP workers

BJP MP Poonam Mahajan, who has been representing Mumbai North Central in Lok Sabha since 2014

While most aspirants for Maharashtra's 48 Lok Sabha seats have been announced, the Mahayuti and Maha Vikas Aghadi have not yet decided their respective candidates for the Mumbai North Central seat, leaving the constituency's electorate in the dark. BJP MP Poonam Mahajan, the incumbent representative, is rumoured to have been refused a ticket by her party, while the Congress, which will be contesting the seat, has not yet chosen a candidate.

A local BJP office-bearer who has been active on the ground said, "The BJP cadre in our constituency has made it evident to party observers that we won't do well if Mahajan is given a ticket again because she has not kept promises made to the voters, be it the construction of a Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj temple in Government Colony or solving the rehabilitation issue of 12,000 families on defence land in Bandra East." BJP party workers with whom mid-day interacted also told this newspaper Mahajan is hardly seen in the constituency.

One of them said, "We had a lot of expectations from Poonamji but she never showed interest in solving our problems. In fact, her PA is the one who oversees everything and this has not gone down well with voters. Written complaints have been made against our MP to the top leadership on several occasions. Mahajan's vote share has decreased by 55,000 to 60,000 in 2019 compared to her 2014 tally." A BJP leader from Mumbai, who did not wish to be named, said the cadre wants Ashish Shelar to contest the seat. Ameet Satam and Parag Alavani are some of the other popular names being mentioned.

Cong frontrunners

A local Congress leader said, "The frontrunners to contest the seat are former cabinet ministers Suresh Shetty and Arif Naseem Khan and MLC and former Mumbai Congress President Bhai Jagtap. With the MVA fighting together, we have very high chances of winning this seat because there is anger in the minds of people against the sitting MP who has done nothing in five years."

Constituency facts

As per the Election Commission of India data from 2019, there are 16,79,731 voters in Mumbai North Central of which 9,00,451 voted in 2019, a 53.61 per cent voter turnout. Of the electorate, 34 per cent are Marathi-speakers, 24 per cent are Muslims, 15 per cent are North Indians, 11 per cent are Gujarati/Marwari, nine per cent are South Indians and five per cent are Christians. The six Assembly segments that fall in this Lok Sabha constituency include Vile Parle, Chandivli, Kurla (SC), Kalina, Vandre East and Vandre West. The Shiv Sena, BJP and Congress won three, two and one Assembly seats respectively in 2019.

16,79,731
No of voters in Mumbai North Central seat