Kicking off the Assembly election season, local leaders who have been active in their areas throw their hat in the ring
Tukaram Patil, former corporator of Shiv Sena (UBT); Upendra Sawant, former corporator, Shiv Sena; Vinod Mishra, former BJP party leader in the BMC; Shraddha Jadhav, former mayor and six-time corporator; Ravi Raja, five-time corporator from Sion Koliwada
Around 10 former corporators who were voted to power in the 2017 Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) election are hoping to get tickets for the coming Assembly election. In the 2019 Assembly poll, five of the 11 corporators in the fray became legislators. Shraddha Jadhav, the seniormost of the corporators and former mayor, said she was willing to contest from the Wadala constituency. She had contested the Assembly poll from the Naigaon seat in 2005.
The Shiv Sena (UBT) leader is a six-time corporator from Parel. “For the Assembly election, the party will take the final call,” Jadhav said.
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Congress’s Ravi Raja, a five-time corporator from Sion Koliwada, also expressed willingness to enter the fray. “I contested six civic elections and won five times. I can contest the Assembly poll, but the party will take a decision regarding this,” he said.
Ujwala Modak, four-time corporator, BJP; Murji Patel, ex-corporator, BJP
Tukaram Patil of the Shiv Sena (UBT) said he would like to contest the Assembly election from the Ghatkopar West constituency but said the Uddhav Thackeray-led party would take a final decision on its candidate for the seat.
Upendra Sawant of Shinde Sena, who is ready to contest the Assembly election from Vikhroli, said, “I have never asked for a ticket, but if the party asks me to contest the election, I will.”
Both Patil and Sawant are one-time corporators.
Vinod Mishra, who was the BJP party leader in the BMC, said, “If the party thinks I’m a suitable candidate for Dindoshi and asks me to contest, I will definitely do so.”
Asif Zakaria, a former corporator from Bandra West
Sources claim If BJP contests from the Jogeshwari constituency, local leader and four-time corporator Ujwala Modak may get a chance. She had also contested the 2014 Assembly election.
Murji Patel, a former corporator of the BJP from Andheri East, could get a chance to contest the Assembly election. He was disqualified as a corporator due to a caste certificate issue. He contested the 2019 Assembly election and he also filed nomination for a byelection held in 2022. Later, his party decided to withdraw his nomination. Asif Zakaria, a former corporator from Bandra West who unsuccessfully contested the 2019 election from Bandra West, could be fielded by his party, Congress, this time.
Rajul Patel, a four-time former corporator from Jogeshwari of the Shiv Sena (UBT), may get a chance to contest from Versova. She contested from the Assembly constituency in 2019 as an independent candidate.
Babbu Khan, a former corporator of the Congress who’s now with Shiv Sena, could get a chance to contest the Assembly election from Dharavi while Atul Shah, a former MLA and corporator of the BJP, may receive a ticket to contest the poll from Mumbadevi.
As the Assembly poll draws near, the number of such aspirants will likely rise.
Yamini Jadhav from Byculla (Shiv Sena), Rais Shaikh from Bhiwandi (Samajwadi Party), Dilip Lande from Chandivli (Shiv Sena), Parag Shah from Ghatkopar East (BJP) and Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Ramesh Korgaonkar from Bhandup had won the Assembly election while they were corporators.
Modak did not respond to mid-day’s call and messages by press time.
11
No. of Mumbai corporators who stepped up in the MLA election in 2019
5
No. of contestants among those 11 who managed to win their seats in 2019
6
No. of civic polls contested by Ravi Raja
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