Mumbai embraces BJP-Shiv Sena

The Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) combine suffered a humiliating defeat in the six parliamentary constituencies of Mumbai, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiv Sena winning three seats each.

In a complete reversal of the 2009 general elections — when the Congress won five seats and the NCP one in Mumbai — the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) partners were dumped unceremoniously by the electorate in India’s financial and commercial capital.

Milind Deora, the Congress candidate from Mumbai south — and a junior minister in the outgoing Manmohan Singh council of ministers — lost to his Shiv Sena rival Arvind Sawant, despite the presence of a strong Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) candidate, Bala Nandgaonkar. Meera Sanyal, a former banker, came a poor fourth, getting less than 35,000 votes.

Another shocking defeat for the Congress was in Mumbai north-central, where Priya Dutt, the sitting member of parliament (MP) — and daughter of yesteryear Bollywood actors Sunil Dutt and Nargis — was trounced by the BJP’s Poonam Mahajan, daughter of late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan.

Rahul Shewale, a young Shiv Sena candidate won the Mumbai south-central constituency, defeating the sitting Congress MP Eknath Gaikwad by about 100,000 votes.

Another sitting Congress MP to face defeat was Sanjay Nirupam, who lost by a massive 425,000-plus votes, to the BJP’s Gopal Shetty in Mumbai north constituency.

Gurudas Kamat, another sitting Congress MP, lost to the Shiv Sena’s Gajanan Kirtikar by more than 175,000 votes in Mumbai north-west. And in Mumbai north-east, Kirit Somaiya of the BJP avenged his 2009 defeat by sitting MP Sanjay Patil of the NCP, winning by a more than comfortable margin.

Interestingly, the Aam Aadmi Party failed to impress the Mumbai electorate and all the candidates were trounced by their rivals. While Mayank Gandhi was the only AAP candidate to reach the 50,000-vote mark, others including Medha Patkar and Phiroze Palkhivala found it difficult to reach that mark. The MNS also performed badly, failing to win any of the three seats where it had fielded candidates.

Former BJP president Nitin Gadkari had met MNS chief Raj Thackeray a few days before the election process began, asking him not to put up candidates against the BJP. Gadkari acceded to the request, though he took on the Shiv Sena in many constituencies.

• India