The Nationalist Congress Party sitting MP Sanjay Dinanath Patil has been alloted a ticket to contest the Lok Sabha election from north East Mumbai constituency. The Bhartiya Janata Party was planning to field Marathi candidate Poonam Mahajan against him. Due to presence of sizeable number of Gujarati population Kirit Somaiya was allotted a ticket from this constituency. NCP’s Sanjay Dinanath Patil, BJP’s Kirit Somaiya and AAP’s Medha Patkar will compete with each other from north East Mumbai. The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena is yet to declare their candidate but Shivajirao Nalavde from corporate field is likely to be issued a ticket.
The Congress was emerging stronger from the North East Mumbai constituency but the party relinquished the constituency to NCP in the year 2009. Sanjay Patil NCP MLC, Kirit Somaiya from BJP and Shishir Shinde MNS MLA are competing for this seat. Sanjay Patil has emerged victorious from the constituency by securing 2,13,505 votes whereas Kirit Somaiya managed to win 2,10,572 votes and Shishir Shinde won 1,15,148 votes. Sanjay defeated Somaiya with a margin of 2,933 votes. NCP has fielded Patil with an expectation that he will put up a better show this time too. AAP has fielded Medha Patkar from the north East Mumbai constituency.
She had fight for the rights of people working in slums hence she has become popular in the slum pockets of Mankhurd, Govandi and other constituencies. Thus it seems that she can give tough fight to other candidates from this constituency. If MNS fields strong candidate from this constituency then Sanjay Patil will benefit out of it. Kirit Somaiya was defeated in the 2009 Lok Sabha election as MNS had played spoilsport. Since Kirit had to face defeat hence Pramod Mahajan’s daughter Poonam Mahajan was keen to contest election from this constituency. Pramod Mahajan had emerged victorious from this constituency in the year 1996. Kirit Somaiya had exposed several scams in which the NCP and Congress party were involved hence the party planned to offer ticket to him from this constituency. However, many Marathi party workers belonging to the BJP are upset with this decision. Somaiya had to bear the brunt of the conflict which had arisen in the party.
There are six assembly seats in the north East Mumbai constituency. BJP have won 2 seats, MNS have bagged 3 seats whereas Samajwadi Party had won one seat. Sardar Tara Singh, BJP MLA from Mulund, Shishir Shinde MNS, MLA from Bhandup (West), Mangesh Sangle MNS, MLA from Vikhroli, Prakash Mehta BJP MLA from Ghatkopar (E),Ram Kadam, MNS MLA from Ghatkopar (W), Abu Azmi SP, MLA from Mankhurd. Even though the MNS and BJP had a strong foothold in this constituency NCP candidate Sanjay Patil managed to win. If MNS fields an able candidate then it will create troubles for Kirit Somaiya. If AAP candidate Medha Patkar manages to win more than 50,000 votes then it pose problems for Sanjay Patil. It seems that there will be cut throat competition among parties in this election.
Lok Sabha 2009 election results
Sanjay Dina Patil (NCP) -2,13,505
Kirit Somaiya (BJP) – 2,10,572
Shishir Shinde (MNS) -1,95,148
Parvez Khan
