Mumbai election: Cong, AAP don't have many takers in posh SoBo

by Salil Panchal

Mumbai: South Mumbai, home to several of India’s richest people, braved the sapping summer heat and came out to vote in numbers – which may not be high in volume – but will still be better than the previous parliamentary elections.

Morning walkers, joggers and homemakers queued up at their respective polling stations at Cuffe Parade, Colaba and Malabar Hill in South Mumbai, keeping themselves busy with stray conversations which ranged from improved police sensitivity to senior citizens, their weekend plans and missing voters’ names.

There were also long spiraling queues of people at a polling booth near Colaba Fire Brigade.

A dipstick of reactions from people who voted in South Mumbai indicated that anti-incumbency is a clear problem for the ruling Congress government, which could see the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Narendra Modi, emerging a clear favourite within the business community.

India’s newest party – the Aam Admi Party’s (AAP) South Mumbai candidate Meera Sanyal did not appear to be finding any traction amongst voters. A brief and unimpressive governance record in New Delhi, lack of maturity and the fact that the party aligned with the Congress have emerged as major strikes against the party in the opinion of South Mumbai’s citizens.

“You can see who is making sense [Modi verses Rahul>. It is time for a change. But the AAP is too risky, I am not sure of what they could bring to the table,” said Ashok Gandhi, who runs an export business.

“The AAP is a complete farce,” added Hemen Kapadia, an investment strategist, who voted from the South Mumbai area of Babulnath.

“Several friends I know are keen to cast their vote for Modi. They are voting for Modi but not necessarily for the BJP. They feel Modi is a man who can make a difference,” Kapadia said.

Entrepreneur Tanisha [name changed>, who resides at the tony Altamount Road area of South Mumbai says: “The AAP needs more time to develop; there is a lack of maturity. It needs to consolidate itself before governing.”

“I am voting for a better government. International focus is not everything. It is time to concentrate on domestic matters, which I feel Modi, as a grassroots man, will be able to address,” the 40-year-old businesswoman says.

Businessman Nikhil Nawalkar, residing in the crowded bylanes of Girgaum, saw improved voters turn out at his C.P Tank voting centre in central Mumbai. “Kejriwal’s Delhi term has disappointed me. They did not live up to promises.”

A few stray voices of support for the scam-scarred Congress were also heard.

Eighty-year-old Esther Simon braved age and the crippling heat to vote. “I am happy with the current government. Probably Manmohan Singh is a bit weak so young blood [like Rahul> will help improve things,” she says, speaking from outside her voting booth at Colaba.

A low-income pocket of Ganesh Nagar slums, where several domestic help of the area reside, was also packed since morning, with long queues, but which thinned out towards early afternoon.

Pushpa, a slum dweller from Ganesh Nagar slums near World Trade Centre in south Mumbai said: “Jo chor dikhta hai vohi acha hai. Jis chor ko dekha nahin, woh hame nahin chahiye. (A known devil is better than an unknown devil).