Nationalist Congress Party leader and party Bandra East candidate Zeeshan Siddiqui arrives to file his nomination papers for the Maharashtra Asssembly elections, in Mumbai on Monday. Party MLA Chhagan Bhujbal also present.
| Photo Credit: ANI

In poll-bound Maharashtra, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, has fielded sitting MLA Zeeshan Siddique from Mumbai’s Bandra East against Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Varun Sardesai. This move sets up an intriguing contest, raising the question whether the NCP can secure a win with a former Congress leader or if the Shiv Sena (UBT) can take the seat with its debutant candidate.

For 32-year-old Mr. Siddique, this poll will mark his first election without his father, former Minister Baba Siddique, who was killed on October 12. For 31-year-old Mr. Sardesai, a cousin of former Minister Aaditya Thackeray, it will be an opportunity to move from the realm of university elections to State elections and, possibly, lay the foundation stone of his political career.

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Bandra East dynamics

A suburb in western Mumbai, Bandra East is known for its high-end business hub — the Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC), government housing colonies and slums. Over the years, Bandra was identified as a Congress stronghold. Out of ten elections until 2008, the Congress won eight times.

Bandra East was established as a separate Assembly segment following delimitation in 2008. Since then, the Shiv Sena held control over it until 2014. In 2019, Mr. Siddique (then with the Congress) won the seat by a margin of 5,790 votes against the (undivided) Shiv Sena contestant Vishwanath Mahadeshwar.

However, Mr. Siddique was suspended from the party for alleged cross-voting in the recent Maharashtra Legislative Council election. He then joined the Ajit Pawar-led NCP. Mr. Siddique had dismissed the allegations of cross-voting, saying, “How I can vote nine times to ensure the defeat of MVA MLC candidates?”

Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Siddique said, “I was a newbie during my first term, but now I have learnt a lot of things after serving people for five years. I will definitely win with a huge margin as the people of Bandra have seen me working on their issues of housing and water, and during the pandemic. In the process, my family had to sacrifice a lot.”

The NCP is also banking on the sympathy votes that Mr. Siddique may get owing to his father’s death.

An emerging face in the Shiv Sena (UBT), Mr. Sardesai is known for his poll strategy and campaigning extensively for party candidates during the Lok Sabha election. He also played an important role in the Mumbai University senate election, where the Shiv Sena (UBT) won all 10 seats. “He is committed to the idea of bringing in new perspectives. He has been working in Bandra East for some time now and the strategy is clear: fighting for the core issues of the people,” said Sena (UBT) spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi.

In the Lok Sabha election, Bandra East had given a substantial lead of 27,480 votes to sitting Mumbai North Central MP Varsha Gaikwad of the Congress against BJP candidate Ujjwal Nikam.

Bandra East is known as the poor cousin of Bandra West, a posh region where many film stars reside. It has a sizeable population of Muslim, Dalit, and middle-class Marathi families. The pressing issues in the Assembly segment are sanitation, housing, and water. Residents of slum pockets in Bandra East are fighting for land rights, housing rights and against illegal demolition. For instance, over 5,000 families in Bharat Nagar are demanding redevelopment under the State housing authority, Mhada, and not under the Slum Rehabilitation Authority’s redevelopment scheme.