Veteran Shiv Sena leader and sitting Mumbai North West MP Gajanan Kirtikar has a tough contest ahead of him as he faces off against former Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam in the Lok Sabha polls. But the first-time MP is confident of winning with a sizeable margin, saying the Sena is more organised and prepared than the Congress.

“We started our preparations even before the elections were declared. We started holding meetings with all cadre across the constituency,” Mr. Kirtikar said.

The MP said he will be banking on his work of the last five years and will project his image as a Sena loyalist who did not abandon his constituency even after being defeated in 2009. “Though we lost by a small margin to Gurudas Kamat in 2009, Mr. Kirtikar continued to work steadfastly with his constituents. He did not ask for a new constituency to fight from in 2014,” Anil Parab, an MLA and Mr. Kirtikar’s chief strategist, said.

Mr. Kirtikar said he has spent nearly ₹46 crore on the constituency during his tenure, which includes ₹25 crore under the MPLAD funds and ₹4 crore that was unspent by the previous MP.

“I rank the development of amenities on stations in my constituency to be among my key achievements. I also got a key project sanctioned from the State for dredging work at Versova jetty, which would cost ₹80 crore,” he said.

In addition to highlighting Mr. Kirtikar’s work, the Sena’s strategy in the Mumbai North West contest is to drive home the fact that Mr. Nirupam not only left the Sena for the Congress, but also his constituency after losing the election in 2014.

Mr. Nirupam left the Sena in March 2005 after falling out with the party high command. He was sent to the Rajya Sabha on a Sena ticket. Incidentally, he had contested against Sunil Dutt from Mumbai North West on a Sena ticket in 2004. He won the Mumbai North seat in 2009 beating the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Ram Naik, but lost it to the BJP’s Gopal Shetty in 2014.

Earlier this week, he was given a ticket from Mumbai North West, and was removed from the post of Mumbai Congress chief.

Mr. Parab said Mr. Kirtikar’s campaign is not taking the contest lightly. “We know Mr. Nirupam is a fighter, and he has been an MP before. But in the present situation, we have an edge as our cadre is more united and organised,” he said.