North Mumbai was regarded as the strong hold constituency of Bhartiya Janata Party but the Congress has made inroads into this area from last 10 years. Six time election winner Ram Naik use to contest from the same constituency since ten years but he was defeated twice. In the year 2005, actor Govinda defeated Naik while sitting Congress MP Sanjay Nirupam emerged victorious in the year 2009. But now Ram Naik has retired from politics. Sanjay Nirupam is all set to contest from the North Mumbai constituency in the forthcoming Lok Sabha election. Even Aam Aadmi Party has not declared its candidate to fight election from this constituency which increases the probability of Sanjay Nirupam to win.
In the year 2005, Congress fielded Govinda for contesting Lok Sabha election and he defeated BJP senior leader Ram Naik by a margin of 47,000 votes. Govinda secured 5,59,763 votes whereas Naik secured 5,11,492 votes. In the year 2009, Nirupam secured 2,55,157 votes where as Naik won 2,49,378 Votes and was defeated by a margin of 5000 votes. In the same election MNS candidate Shirish Parkar had won 1,47,502 votes which had a major impact on the BJP vote bank. Few days back, Ram Naik had declared that he will no more contest election due to old age.
The BJP has fielded Gopal Shetty to contest the Lok Sabha election. MNS chief Raj Thackeray is planning to field MLA Pravin Darekar from this constituency. The party feels that if Darekar contests elections from this constituency then he is likely to emerge victorious. Sanjay Nirupam has a strong foothold in the north Mumbai constituency.
In the north Mumbai constituency there are six assembly seats. Shiv Sena MLA Vinod Ghosalkar from Dahisar, BJP MLA Gopal Shetty from Borivali, BJP MLA Yogesh Sagar from Charkop, Congress MLA Thakur Ramesh Singh from Kandivali, MNS MLA Pravin Darekar from Magathane, Congress MLA Aslam Saikh from Malad are the members of the legislative assembly. The Congress have 2 MLAs, BJP has 2 MLAs, whereas Shiv Sena and MNS have 1-1 MLAs each. The BJP is planning to field Gopal Shetty against Sanjay Nirupam in the upcoming Lok Sabha election.
2009 Election
Sanjay Nirupam- 2,55,157
Ram Naik- 2,49,378
Shirish Parkar- 1,47,502
Parvez Khan
