Will actress Urmila Matondkar of the Congress do a 2004 Govinda against BJP’s formidable candidate Gopal Shetty in Mumbai north constituency? Will two-time Congress MP Priya Dutt avenge herself of the humiliating defeat that she suffered at the hands of late senior BJP leader Pramod Mahajan’s daughter Poonam Mahajan in the 2014 polls or bite electoral dust once again?
Will two-time MP Milind Deora recapture the prestigious Mumbai south seat that he lost to Shiv Sena’s Arvind Sawant? Will ex-Sena functionary-turned-Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam who was sacked recently as the Mumbai party chief redeem himself with a victory in the polls in Mumbai north-west? Will the BJP pay for replacing its sitting MP and popular face Kirit Somaiya in Mumbai north-east under intense pressure from its ally Shiv Sena?
Mumbaikars as well as pollsters are seeking answers to these and many other questions, as 17 Lok Sabha constituencies — comprising all the six Lok Sabha seats, three in the neighbouring Thane district and constituencies like Nandurbar, Dhule, Dindori, Nashik, Palghar, Maval, Shirur and Shirdi — go to polls in the last phase of polling in Maharashtra on Monday. In Monday’s polls, en estimated 3,12 crore voters are slated to exercise their franchise in 17 constituencies.
Unlike in the past, Mumbai is witnessing fierce electoral battles in all the six Lok Sabha constituency. Incidentally, there are direct contests between the BJP-Sena combine candidates and the Opposition Congress-NCP alliance in all six constituencies. Mumbaikars have been inconsistent when it comes to electing candidates to Lok Sabha. For instance, riding on the back of an intense Modi wave, the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance had won all the six seats in Mumbai.
Earlier in a no-wave 2009 elections, the Congress-NCP alliance had won all the six Lok Sabha seats in the metropolis. In 2004 polls when NDA ceded power to the Congress-led UPA, the Congress had won five seats in Mumbai and the Shiv Sena had walked away with the remaining one seat. In the 1999 elections that saw the Vajpayee-led NDA Government come to power, the BJP had won three seats, its ally Shiv Sena bagged two seats and the Congress had walked away with the remaining one seat.
Notwithstanding the claims to the contrary being made by the ruling BJP, there is absolutely no wave in Mumbai or elsewhere in the State. The efforts by the BJP and Modi himself to render its candidates inconsequential and make the elections Modi vs the Opposition have failed in Mumbai, where the sitting BJP-Sena alliance MPs have been forced to seek votes on the basis of their performance in Lok Sabha.
Unlike in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections when the Opposition was dwarfed by the larger than life image of BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, the Congress and NCP candidates are in a resurgent mood and are giving the BJP-Sena candidates run for their money.
On his part, Mumbai Congress president Milind Deora, who himself is a party candidate from Mumbai south, has gone to town predicting that his party will win all the six seats. Deora’s enthusiasm notwithstanding, the Congress-NCP will definitely make gains in Mumbai, where it had failed to win even one seat in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
Being a glamorous actress, Urmila of “Rangeela” fame is attracting eyeballs in the media. The Congress’ decision to field Urmila from Mumbai north constituency in place of Sanjay Nirupam who was shifted the neighbouring Mumbai north-west constituency came as a surprise to Mumbaikars. Her candidature from Mumbai north brought back the memories of the Congress pitting an equally popular dancing actor Govinda Ahuja, better known as Virar ka chokra, against veteran five-time BJP MP Ram Naik in the 2004 elections. Considered a novice, Govinda had trounced Naik by a margin of 48,271 votes.
Unlike Govinda who was a mere actor, Urmila is a beauty with brain. Despite her being new to politics, she marshalled her resources well during her campaigning. Apart from putting the Congress workers to effective use, she succeeded in roping in the NCP and Raj Thackeray-led MNS workers for her electioneering. So much so that NCP chief Sharad Pawar addressed an election rally at Borivli on the last of her campaign.
A Maharashtrian married to Kashmir-based businessman and model Mohsin Akhtar Mir, she has been drawing good crowds. Contesting against a strong candidate Gopal Shetty who had defeated Sanjay Nirupam of the Congress by a staggering margin of 4.46 lakh votes in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Urmila is not unnerved and making all out efforts to reach out to all sections of the society. With her aggressive campaigning, Urmila kindled her party’s hope to bag the Mumbai north seat, an optimism that a confident Shetty dismisses outright and says his winning margin would cross 5 lakh votes in the 2019 polls.
Another crucial electoral fight is being fought in Mumbai north-central, where BJP’s Poonam Mahajan is seeking re-election against Congress’ two-time MP Priya Dutt, who was persuaded by Congress president Rahul Gandhi two months after she had decided to “take a break from active politics” and “experience and explore other aspects of my life too”.
Fifty two-year-old Dutt, who is the daughter of the late actor couple Sunil Dutt and Nargis, and sister of Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt, had earlier been elected twice to Lok Sabha-- once from Mumbai north-west constituency in 2005 and for another term from Mumbai north-central constituency in 2009. She was however, defeated by the BJP’s Poonam Mahajan from Mumbai north-central constituency in the 2014 LS polls by margin of 1.86 lakh votes.
Though both the Congress and Dutt herself have their support base in the constituency which has both the cosmopolitan voters and slum dwellers, the BJP has consolidated its support base during the last five years. Both Poonam Mahajan and Dutt are campaigning intensely. Actor Sanjay Dutt helped his sister Priya in the electioneering.