Maharashtra election 2024: Mira Bhayandar gears up for a three-way contest between BJP's Narendra Mehta, Congress's Muzaffar Hussain, and independent Geeta Jain. This fiercely debated election raises questions on longstanding issues like water supply, redevelopment of old buildings. Will the battle lead to different results this time around?
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Mira-Bhayandar, an extended part of Mumbai, will once again witness a triangular battle between the current MLA, and BJP and Congress candidates. The last time, despite strong BJP candidates, people voted for an independent. This time, with the Sena and NCP on Congress’s side, will the result be different, is the current discussion in the constituency.
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The city has always had water supply troubles. Though these have been resolved to some extent, the ever-expanding city’s need for water has risen exponentially. Many high-rise towers are already built on both sides of the under-construction Metro line, but there is the serious issue of redevelopment of old buildings, illegal chawls and gaothan areas too. Insufficient health and education facilities are other pressing concerns of citizens. They are also highly dependent on the railways to travel to workplaces. Last-mile connectivity, job creation, and pollution control still seem like distant dreams.
Over the last 15 years, the Mira Bhayandar constituency has chosen different MLAs and different political parties at every election. In 2009, Gilbert Mendonca from the NCP won. In 2014, when the country witnessed a change in government, Mira Bhayandar chose a BJP candidate to represent them. In 2019, despite the BJP repeating its candidate, residents picked former mayor Geeta Jain who despite being a BJP member contested as an independent. Come 2024, the BJP has once again fielded Narendra Mehta. Geeta Jain is contesting as an independent and Congress has once again shown confidence in Muzaffar Hussain.
Geeta Jain who started her campaign way before tickets were announced by political parties, said, “In 2019, when I was denied a ticket from BJP, I had decided to fight as an independent for the betterment of the city. People voted for me and I served them. After five years, the situation is the same again. It is the people who have given me a ticket as an independent (janta hi apaksha ko ticket deti hai) and now I am fighting on their behalf. I have full trust that the people will support me this time too. It was the same situation in 2019 and despite a division of votes, we had enough in our favour to get elected.”
In 2019, despite the division of votes, Jain and Mehta were at number one and two as Shiv Sena was part of the alliance. In 2014, when Mehta got elected with a massive number of votes (91,468) the combined votes of NCP, Congress and Shiv Sena were around 97,000. This time NCP-SP and Sena-UBT are with Congress. So can the division of votes lead to different results?
“I haven’t been dependent on the division of votes. People have seen 65 years of my family and 40 years of me staying in Mira Road and me within the political sphere. I have my own vote bank. People are fed up with the 10 years of misgovernance. The other two candidates are not only defaming each other but they are also defaming my beloved city. I don’t want such mudslinging in my city. The city has 100 per cent literacy rate and 100 per cent employment/self-employment rate. This city won’t accept polarisation, or mudslinging at all. So for water, transportation, education, health and for a better life, people should vote for the Congress,” said Muzaffar Hussain.
Meanwhile, Narendra Mehta said, “There isn’t a single NCP corporator and hardly three Sena (UBT) corporators. Even if these 30,000 Sena voters shift sides, we have enough BJP votes to win. Congress only depends on minority votes. Last time, there were wrong narratives. This time, voters know that BJP supported me and we will win by a huge margin.”
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