BMC Elections 2017: 10 key candidates and constituencies in Mumbai civic polls

 Campaigning for all the 10 municipal corporations in Maharashtra ended at 5:30 PM on Sunday and polling for the same are being held today. The 10 municipal Corporations that will go to poll on Tuesday includes Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, Thane Municipal Corporation, Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation, Pune Municipal Corporation, Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, Solapur Municipal Corporation, Nashik Municipal Corporation, Akola Municipal Corporation, Amravati Municipal Corporation and Nagpur Municipal Corporation. Election results of all 10 Municipal Corporation and 25 Zilla Parishad will be declared on February 23.

However, all political parties have targeted on BMC, the country’s richest municipal corporation and from Devendra Fadnavis, Yogi Adityanath to P Chidambaram and Hardik Patel, the political parties are leaving no stone unturned to gain the support of the city. Massive rallies were held by parties throughout the state where they made several promises and also blamed other political parties for the underdevelopment of Maharashtra. A total of 2275 candidates will be contesting in 227 wards of the city.

BJP, Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Congress and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) are key parties contesting the Mumbai civic elections. Following are key candidates and key constituencies that will be contested in the BMC elections.

Tejaswini Ghosalkar (Ward no. 1)

Wife of sitting corporator Abhishek Ghosalkar, Tejaswini Ghosalkar has been fielded by Shiv Sena from the ward. She is the daughter-in-law of Shiv Sena’s former MLA Vinod Ghosalkar.

Asif Zakaria (Ward no. 101)

Contesting on the Congress ticket, Asif Zakaria is being challenged by BJP and the party has nominated Dereyk Talker, a citizen activist of Wake Up Bandra. The ward also has an activist Shane Cardoz who is contesting the elections from the ward as an independent candidate. Congress has been dominating this ward from many years.

Mangal Bhanushali (Ward no. 131)

Contesting in Gujarati dominated ward no 131 of Ghatkopar, Mangal Bhanushali is a BJP turncoat who has been fielded from the ward by Shiv Sena. Sena



has been trying to gain the Gujarati support throughout the city. Bhansali is contesting the elections against BJP’s Bhalchandra Shirsat and NCP’s Rakhi Jadhav.

Renu Hansraj (Ward no. 69)

Renu Hansraj is an independent candidate contesting from Ward no. 69 of Andheri West. It is believed that she has a good support in the area and in the BMC elections, she is backed by some of the residents association.

Prakash Darekar (Ward no. 11)

In ward no 11, Magathane, BJP has fielded an important candidate, Prakash Darekar, to lure Marathi vote. Prakash Darekar is a brother of Praveen Darekar (former MLA) who was poached from MNS and was also given a Legislative Council seat.

Jyotsna Dighe (Ward no. 60)

Senior Congress leader Narayan Rane’s loyalist, Jyotsna Dighe is contesting from Ward no 60 in Versova. She already made headlines in the previous elections after she was successful in breaking the hegemony of Shiv Sena in the ward.

Parag Shah (Ward no. 132)

Parag Shah has already gained popularity for being the richest candidate in BMC. Contesting from Ward No 132 in Ghatkopar on a BJP ticket, Parag Shah has declared his total assets worth Rs 690 crore making him the richest candidate in the city. Parag Shah is contesting against Congress heavyweight corporator and Leader of Opposition in BMC Pravin Chheda. Considered as a close aide of state housing minister Prakash Mehta, Parag Shah has been purposely placed against Pravin Chheda as it is believed that Shah has his foothold over the Jain and Gujarati population- the dominating population in the suburb Ghatkopar.

Mukesh Karia (Ward no. 108)

Mukesh Karia is a BJP turncoat contesting from ward no 108 in Mulund on Shiv Sena ticket. Karia is contesting against BJP’s Neil Somaiya, son of BJP MP Kirit Somaiya. While Kirit Somaiya has been continuously attacking Uddhav Thackeray, Shiv Sena is keen to take revenge by defeating Neil Somaiya.

Veena Bhagwat (Ward no. 84)

In ward no 84, Shiv Sena has opted for Veena Bhagwat, a well-known educationalist who fought on MNS ticket in 2012 and was narrowly beaten by Shiv Sena’s Shubhada Patkar.