Although it initially seemed like a cakewalk for the ruling party, the fight between the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) sitting MP Gopal Shetty and Congress candidate Urmila Matondkar is turning out to be interesting.

The constituency that consists of Dahisar, Borivli, Kandivli and parts of Malad has a range of issues such as housing and basic amenities for slum dwellers, redevelopment and infrastructure growth for the urban middle class.

Unlike 2014, when the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) had fielded candidates, this time, it is a straight BJP versus Congress fight.

In 2014, Shetty had made headlines after defeating Congress’s Sanjay Nirupam by a margin of more than four lakh votes.

Considering this victory and the fact that 75% of the population in the constituency is Marathi-Gujarati, most of whom are loyal BJP supporters, victory for the party looked easy, so much so that no candidate from the Congress wished to contest from here.

However, after the announcement of Matondkar’s candidature in March, some voters seemed to have found a strong alternative.

“While Shetty has been approachable over the past five years, many are upset over the party’s performance as a whole, which can swing a few votes towards the Congress,” said Nishikant Naik, an HR professional from Kandivli.

Over the past one month, Matondkar has spoken against the BJP over Hindutva and failed development policies of the party, thus striking a

chord. While many thought the actor won’t be able to get into the role of a politician, she seems to have changed that image after travelling in the summer heat for hours and meeting people across the constituency.

“I am here to stay, irrespective of the elections. People are suffering a lot under the current regime and I will work to change that,” she said while speaking to HT at a rally in Borivli.

Despite the challenge, there is strong support for Shetty, a three-time corporator and two-time MLA.

“I have an open office. Anyone can come to me with any problem through the day and I help them solve it. We have a strong support base across communities because of the work we have done in the area in the past,” he said

First Published: Apr 22, 2019 01:25 IST