Sena's rebel candidate Trupti Sawant plays spoilsport, leads to Cong candidate Zeeshan Siddiqui's win against Sena's Vishwanath Mahadeshwar
Congress's Zeeshan Siddique won by a margin of 5,790 votes
In a double whammy for the Shiv Sena in its home turf – Bandra East – they not only lost the seat but also the party's face when voters rejected Mumbai's first citizen, Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar, who was contesting from the constituency. Trupti Sawant, a Sena rebel, who contested as an Independent candidate, played a spoilsport leading to the victory of Congress candidate Zeeshan Siddiqui, son of former MLA Baba Siddiqui.
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After holding on to the Bandra East for two successful terms, Sena lost it in a close fight to Congress. It took 14 rounds of counting before Siddique could move ahead of Mahadeshwar. In the initial rounds of counting, Mahadeshwar's lead continued to grow, with a margin of 5,545 votes in the ninth round, after which it dropped to a margin of 842 votes in the 13th round. Siddiqui defeated Mahadeshwar in the 19th round with 38,337 votes while Mahadeshwar bagged 32,547 votes.
Vishwanath Mahadeshwar after losing the Bandra East seat. Pics/Atul Kamble
Mahadeshwar, who visited the counting centre briefly, said, "Winning and losing is part of the game." Siddiqui, however, was confident of winning. "Apart from the slum areas, voters from residential areas like Kalanagar also voted for me. People realise that in order to bring some real change they would have to vote for candidates and not the party," said Siddique.
Lauding the joint effort of Siddiqui and his father, Congress leader Priya Dutt said, "There is a fabulous synergy between someone who has a lot of experience and someone who has the ambition and is very hard-working. Zeeshan has been working on ground for the past 15-16 months and that is the kind of leader people want." Meanwhile, Sena rebel, Sawant said, "Had I been the Sena candidate, I would have won without a doubt. People have chosen someone who hasn't done any work in the constituency."
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