While the elections are slated to held in Mumbai on April 29, the most interesting battle is in Mumbai North constituency where an experienced politician will face the epitome of glamour and fame.
In Mumbai North constituency BJP candidate and sitting MP Gopal Shetty will go on a poll battle against actress-turned-politician Urmila Matondkar. The interesting point will be to see is will the constituency, which is considered to be a BJP stronghold will hold on to fort which has been with the party for five consecutive terms. Earlier in 2004 general elections actor-turned-politician Govinda had a sweeping victory against BJP’s Ram Naik.
On the other hand, Congress has fielded actress Urmila Matondkar. Residents of Mumbai North and Congress workers claim that unlike other actors, Matondkar just does not campaign from her vehicle, and isn’t afraid to mingle with the people and discuss their issues.
Gopal Shetty told Mid-Day, “I don’t consider this to be a tough fight. It is in-fact a cakewalk for the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance. There are many reasons for it, but I don’t want to underestimate Matondkar. People spend money to buy movie tickets so that they can see their favourite stars on screen, but if they get to seem them for free then it’s definitely an advantage. This is why wherever Matondkar will conduct rallies people will go. But when it comes to voting, people will first analyse the work each candidate has done for the constituency. In 2004, the constituency was spread till Palghar and majority of Govinda’s votes came from Virar, as he was known as ‘the Virar ka chokra’. But the situation is different now.”
The North Mumbai constituency is spread across Dahisar, Borivali, Magathne, Charkop, Kandivali East and Malad West and covers a total population of 18.41 crore as per the 2011 census data. According to the 2016 voters’ list, the constituency has a total of 14,85,516 electorates, but it has never seen a voter turnout of more than 50 per cent.
