A rapidly growing part of the city that is changing from old factories, manufacturing estates and chawls to swanky residential complexes, had the two parties on an almost even keel
The bitter fight between the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Ghatkopar-Bhandup-Kanjurmarg-Mulund belt was visible in the pattern of the results. A rapidly growing part of the city that is changing from old factories, manufacturing estates and chawls to swanky residential complexes, had the two parties on an almost even keel.
While the BJP swept the Mulund area falling under T-ward, winning all 6 wards (103 to 108), the Sena managed to win areas in Bhandup namely wards 109, 113 and 114. The presence of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, which had come up in a big way in the Vikhroli-Bhandup belt between 2009 and 2014, and resulting split in what was the traditional Sena sons-of-the-soil vote, was not a factor this time. The Mulund sweep of the BJP, however, was challenged by the Sena late evening with the latter planning to move the Bombay High Court over the verdict. Of the 12 wards in the Bhandup-Kanjurmarg-Powai belt, the Sena managed to win seven seats. The Congress and the Nationalist Congress party got one ward each while the BJP managed to win three wards.
In T-ward, which covers Mulund and Bhandup, the BJP won six of the 10 wards, while Shiv Sena got three and Congress got one. For the BJP, the victory of sitting MP Kirit Somaiya's son Neil Somaiya, against whom the Sena had put a spirited high-decibel fight, and also its 'mayoral' candidate Manoj Kotak and improvements committee chairman Prakash Gangadhare was on expected lines.
Ghatkopar, one of the nerve centres of the Gujarati community in the city, had seen a high-voltage campaign in Ward 132 between the Congress' Praveen Chheda, leader of opposition in the outgoing house, and the BJP's last-minute import Parag Shah, the latter also having the distinction of being the city's richest candidate with a declared income of over Rs 600 crores.
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