Mumbai: Mumbai’s south-central constituency will witness a fierce battle between the sitting MP Rahul Shewale, from Shiv Sena and his main challenger Eknath Gaikwad from the Congress Party. The constituency consists of six assembly segments – Anushakti Nagar, Chembur, Dharavi, Mahim, Sion-Koliwada and Wadala.
The Congress enjoys huge support from the predominant Dalit and Muslim voters in the constituency. The constituency also has a major percentage of Marathi voters, which are usually seen as the staunch supporters of Shiv Sena. However, given the ‘support’ extended by the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) to the Congress, the Marathi vote bank (of Sena) is likely to get disturbed.
Similar is the case of Muslim voters, who can ditch Congress and vote for Ahmed Shaikh, a joint candidate of Mayawati’s Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party (SP). The constituency with over 14 lakh voters has a range of issues, which the residents want their MP to address and resolve the same at the earliest.
According to the local populace, the deaths on a daily basis at Mahul, the seemingly never-ending wait for the implementation of Dharavi Redevelopment Plan (DRP), poor condition of roads, annual waterlogging are the major areas, which need immediate attention. The residents also want a boost to the infrastructure of the constituency and also the protection of reserved open and recreational places.
Apart from all these, there is an immediate need to improvise the conditions of civic-run schools and hospitals. There is also a need to increase the number of government hospitals in the area. While the sitting MP Rahul Shewale is looking for a second term from the constituency, his rival, the two-time MP, Gaikwad has been seeking another chance from his voters to serve them as an MP.
The continuously ‘absent’ Shewale might face the heat from the voters as citizens have claimed he has hardly done anything for the constituency and neither has he raised the local issues in the parliament. All this along with anti-incumbency can become a boon for Gaikwad.
