Mumbai: BJP politician Kirit Somaiya could not contain his joy on Thursday. He took to social media to express it: “Neil Somaiya ward 107 in Mulund. 1. Uddhav Thackeray Sena UBT 2. Raj Thackeray MNS 3. Sharad Pawar NCP 4. Rahul Gandhi Congress did not put up candidates. God is Great.” Somaiya’s confidence in his son winning the election for the second time stems from the fact that there is no heavyweight candidate against Neil.
On account of an alliance among Shiv Sena (UBT), MNS and NCP (SP), Ward No. 107 was allotted to NCP (SP). The party nominated Bharat Vanani as its candidate for the ward, but Vanani’s form was rejected and he was disqualified.The Congress, on the other hand, has an alliance with the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA). Its candidate is Vaishali Sapkal.Returning officer Ujwala Bhagat said there were 13 valid nominations from Ward No. 107, of which four were filed by Neil Somaiya. “There is one VBA candidate, while the rest are independent candidates,” Bhagat said. In 2017, Neil contested the election from the adjacent Ward No. 108 and won. In Jan 2023, the VBA formed an alliance with the Shiv Sena for the civic election, but the alliance ended in 2024. Asked if there is some understanding with the Shiv Sena, VBA chief Prakash Ambedkar said his party does not have any alliance with the Shiv Sena and MNS.Good fortune also favoured Shiv Sena MLA from Andheri East Muraji Patel. His wife, Kesarben, is contesting the election from Ward No. 81 on a BJP ticket, and his former PA Prakash Musale is contesting from Ward No. 76. Both electoral wards are in Patel’s constituency. Patel said it is merit and the candidates’ winnability factor that decided their candidature. “Every party chooses its candidate, and Musale is not my PA; he is the BJP’s dy district president,” he said.While the BJP has spoken about winnability being a factor in deciding the candidate and ward, at least four candidates who lost the 2017 election kept their candidature intact. Prakash Darekar (Ward No. 3) and Nisha Parulekar-Bangera (Ward No. 25), both considered close to MLC Pravin Darekar, and Ritu Tawde (Ward No. 132) and Shakeel Ansari (Ward No. 211) were given a second chance. Ansari, the party’s lone Muslim candidate, missed the deadline this time and failed to file his nomination. MSID:: 126290009 413 |
