The Opposition BJP-Shiv Sena alliance was on Wednesday all gung ho about scaling up its tally further in Maharashtra, as 19 constituencies — spread across Mumbai and three other regions — prepared to go Thursday’s lok Sabha polls, in an electoral battle that will also determine the strength of the Raj Thackeray-led MNS and the inroads made by fledgling AAP in the State.
Thursday’s polling, in which 3.17 crore voters in six constituencies, five of neighbouring Konkan region, six from north Maharashtra and two from Marthwada will exercise their franchise, will decide the fate of several political bigwigs, including Chhagan Bhujbal (Nasik), Padamsingh Patil (Osmanabad), Sunil Tatkare (Raigad), all of the NCP, Gurudas Kamat (Mumbai north-west) and Milind Deora (Mumbai south)- Congress, and social activist Medha Patkar (Mumbai north-east) of AAP.
The other prominent candidates in Thursday’s polls are: Kirit Somaiya (Mumbai north-east) Pramod Mahajan’s daughter Poonam Mahajan (Mumbai North Central) of the BJP, (Mumbai North East), corporate banker Meera Sanyal (Mumbai south) of the AAP and Sena’s sitting MP Anant Geete (Raigad).
The 19 constituencies going to the polls are Aurangabad, Bhiwandi, Dindori, Dhule, Jalgaon, Jalna, Kalyan, Mumbai North, Mumbai North-West, Mumbai North-East, Mumbai North-Central, Mumbai South-Central, Mumbai South, Nandurbar, Nashik, Palghar, Raver, Raigad and Thane.
The Aam Aadmi Party, which is contesting all 48 lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra, has the maximum stake in the elections – in terms of number seats contested in the polls. The fate of 19 of its candidates will sealed in ballot boxes in Thursday’s polls.
In the third and final phase of polling, the AAP’s prominent candidates are in Mumbai where it can harness the power of social media much better than in rural areas like Nandurbar or Dhule.
Apart from Sanyal and Patkar, the AAP’s most other prominent candidates are: retired PWD official-turned-politician Vijay Pandare (Nashik), its Mumbai unit convenor Mayank Gandhi (Mumbai north-west) and ex-HDFC Mutual Funds manager Satish Jain (Mumbai north) and lawyer Firoze Palkhiwala (Mumbai north-central).
The MNS, which had contested 12 seats in the 2009 lok Sabha polls, is contesting 10 seats in the current polls. The candidates that the MNS has put up include: three seats of Mumbai, two seats (Thane and Kalyan-Dombivli) in Thane district, one seat in Nashik, one seat each in Pune and Shirur.
Political observers are keeping a close watch on the performances of the MNS and AAP in the lok Sabha polls. While the Raj Thackeray-led party is fighting its second lok Sabha polls, the AAP is debut in lok Sabha polls.
The performances by respective performances in the current polls will have a bearing on their strategy for the Maharashtra Assembly polls, scheduled for October this year.