With just three days left for polling in Mumbai, eyes are all set on Mumbai North East Lok Sabha seat, where Marathi voters are likely to will decide who will be the next MP. Ending days of suspense over the likely party nominee from Mumbai North East Lok Sabha seat, the BJP, on April 3, dropped sitting MP Kirit Somaiya whose renomination was strongly opposed by ally Shiv Sena.
The BJP has now fielded Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) corporator Manoj Kotak in place of Mr. Somaiya, a known Uddhav Thackeray baiter. Mr. Kotak, who is the group leader of the BJP in the civic body, would take on Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) candidate and former MP Sanjay Dina Patil, who had lost to Mr. Somaiya in the 2014 elections.
There are six lakh Marathi voters in the constituency and 2 lakh Gujarati, North Indians and Muslim voters. According to political pundits, the North Indian votes will be divided between BJP-Shiv Sena and Congress- NCP alliance. NCP candidate Sanjay Dina Patil told Lokmat that “There is no Modi wave now. In Mumbai, North East voters are disappointed with the BJP. And during our campaigning, voters have expressed their anger against BJP and their candidates.”
