The only saffron Assembly segment that the Congress managed to turn was Kherwadi in Mumbai North Central. (Express photo/Tashi Tobgyal)RIDING HIGH on the Modi wave, the BJP-Shiv Sena wrested 31 out of the 36 Assembly segments in the Lok Sabha polls in Mumbai. The Congress-led alliance, which failed to win a single seat in the city, led in barely five segments, losing a couple of its own.
In the 2014 Assembly polls, the Congress had won four seats — Malad, Chandivali, Mumbadevi and Dharavi. On Thursday, it came second behind the BJP in Malad and Chandivali, both of which have a fair share of the minority population, and have been loyal Congress bastions.
In Malad, which is a part of the Mumbai North constituency, BJP’s Gopal Shetty managed a lead of 20,027 votes over Congress’s Urmila Matondkar. In Chandivali, which falls under Mumbai North Central constituency, the margin was wider. BJP’s Poonam Mahajan led Congress’s Priya Dutt by over 29,000 votes here. Former state minorities development minister Naseem Khan is the Congress MLA from Chandivali.
Despite contesting the 2014 state polls independently, BJP and Sena had collectively won 30 out of the 36 seats in Mumbai. The Congress had four, AIMIM and Samajwadi Party one each.
The latest performance indicates that the ruling combine has further consolidated its position. It has wrested new Assembly segments, and bettered its vote share from 56.11 per cent in 2014 to 58.21 per cent.
South Mumbai offered some solace for the Congress. While Milind Deora, Mumbai Congress president, tasted his second consecutive defeat, the party led in Mumbadevi by over 35,000 votes and Byculla by 23,000 votes.
The BJP-Sena also narrowed the gap in Mumbai South Central’s Dharavi Assembly segment — represented by former Congress minister Varsha Gaikwad — to just 9,500 votes. In Mumbai North East, NCP’s Sanjay Dina Patil led in, Mankhurd.
The only saffron Assembly segment that the Congress managed to turn was Kherwadi in Mumbai North Central.
