After enduring a gruelling two-week-long election campaign, candidates in Mumbai finally got to relax on Tuesday, a day after the fifth and the final phase of Lok Sabha polls concluded in Maharashtra. While some opted to use this time for rest and recuperation, others seized the opportunity to reconnect with their families. Meanwhile, a determined few returned to the demanding arena of politics. Two-time MP and UBT Sena candidate from Mumbai South, Arvind Sawant, told The Indian Express, "While the elections may have ended, the work never stops. Last evening, one of our polling agents died, and we were busy working.Besides that, there are a number of issues which we have been busy with, such as coordinating with other polling agents and collecting information." From Mumbai's North East seat, BJP's Mihir Kotecha and Shiv Sena (UBT) Sanjay Dina Patil spent their day meeting party workers at their office. While Kotecha personally met and thanked the party workers, Patil reached out to the leaders of INDIA alliance and appreciated their efforts in helping him contest the elections. Hours after polling took place in Mumbai, Shiv Sena UBT candidate from Mumbai north west seat Amol Kirtikar met several karyakartas and expressed his gratitude to them for helping him during the election campaign. On Tuesday, Amol stayed away from the phone and spent time with his family and children. "Due to election campaigning, he could hardly spend time with his children who were having their vacations. On Tuesday, he spent the day with his family and children. In the evening, he scheduled a meeting with his karyakartas to thank them for the effort they took amid the gruelling heat in the past few weeks," said a person from his team. Ravindra Waikar, who contested a Shiv Sena ticket, also rested on Tuesday, spending time with his family. "It was an exhausting campaign due to the high temperatures. Everyone involved, including Waikar, rested at home and spent time with their family," a person from his team told The Indian Express. Senior criminal lawyer Ujjwal Nikam, BJP candidate for Mumbai North-Central constituency, said that after an exhaustive, tiring yet 'enriching' campaign of nearly a month, he would take rest for two days. The 71-year-old, who entered politics last month, told The Indian Express, "I will take rest for a couple of days and then decide what to do about the several cases I resigned from as a special public prosecutor in the run-up to the elections. I resigned from the cases after my candidature was announced, and the people, especially victims and their kin, are insisting me to take up those cases again." On the other hand, Nikam's opponent and four-time Congress MLA from Dharavi Varsha Gaikwad resumed her routine work as city party unit chief at the Congress office on Tuesday. Gaikwad expressed confidence in winning the Mumbai north central Lok Sabha seat. On Tuesday morning, she attended a programme in the city to pay homage to former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on his death anniversary. She also resumed her routine work as MLA and heard grievances of residents over the Dharavi redevelopment project and congratulated Class 12 students who passed their state board exams. Union minister Piyush Goyal, who contested from Mumbai North, will be taking part in election campaigns in the remaining two phases of Lok Sabha polls. "He is not someone who is known for taking any time off. He is one of the star campaigners of his party and soon he will be deployed by the party high command in some other parts of the country, most likely in Delhi, where elections are yet to take place. He is just waiting for the orders to come, following which he will do what the party wants him to do," a source close to Goyal told the Indian Express on Tuesday. Meanwhile, Congress's Bhushan Patil said that he will be doing a post poll analysis and continue to do his party work. "For today and tomorrow, I will be in my office in Borivali, where I will do a post poll analysis to understand how the trend is going to be on June 4. Later this week, I will be travelling to Uttar Pradesh (UP) to help our party workers in the campaigning work for the remaining phase of elections," Patil told Express on Tuesday.
