Constituency watch: Vinod Ghosalkar vs Manisha Chaudhary in Mumbai’s Dahisar

On one hand, the anti-incumbency factor may pose a challenge for Chaudhuri in the upcoming election, while on the other Ghosalkar is hopeful that his son’s ‘approachable’ nature will pay them back in the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections on November 20.

Located at the northern fringe of Mumbai’s suburban district, Dahisar became a standalone Assembly seat in 2009, after the Borivali constituency was bifurcated. Ghosalkar became the first MLA from this seat in 2009.

In 2014, the then undivided Shiv Sena and BJP contested the Assembly elections separately, and Ghosalkar was defeated by Chaudhuri by a margin of 38,000 votes. Later in 2019, Chaudhuri went on to defeat Congress’s Arun Sawant by a 63,000 vote-margin and held her fort. Since, both BJP and Sena fought the 2019 Assembly polls in coalition, Ghosalkar didn’t get a ticket.

Of the total 2.6 lakh voters, Dahisar houses a sizeable population of Maharashtrian, Gujarati, Marwadi and North Indians, while Muslims and Christians account for 10.5 per cent of the total population.

Key issues in the constituency

Dahisar also houses a mixed demography comprising slum pockets as well as residential societies. Dahisar is also one of the entry points in the city of Mumbai, the state government’s recent decision of waiving of toll from the Dahisar Naka has brought relief to local residents. However the issue of traffic congestion continues to exist.

Meanwhile, the advent of Metro rail in 2022 has emerged to be a boon for local residents. However, factors such as lack of uniform water supply, mangrove destruction, poor road infrastructure continue to trouble the people.

Alongside this, several old housing societies are stuck in the middle of redevelopment works after the Airport Authority of India (AAI) imposed a height restriction on buildings in 2020 considering the place’s close proximity to the residential area.

“My primary agenda after coming to power will be to relax the existing set of height restriction rules to make sure the redevelopment works can take off from where they are stuck right now. Another agenda would be to reclaim open spaces and to restart projects like setting up the mangrove walkway which were stalled after the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) came to power,” Chaudhuri told The Indian Express.

Ghosalkar, however, said that not much has changed in Dahisar during the last 10 years. “Even though the Metro project, which was conceived long back, has been implemented, basic issues such as uneven roads, lack of water supply and destruction of mangroves remain unaddressed. Our agenda would be to upgrade the existing set of civic infrastructure in order to ease the life of citizens living here,” Ghosalkar told The Indian Express.

Intense campaigning in Dahisar

Following the announcements of their candidatures, Ghosalkar and Chaudhuri are seen aggressively campaigning at their constituency. While Ghosalkar, along with his daughter-in-law, Tejasvee, also a former corporator, is seen visiting residential pockets regularly, Chaudhuri is seen holding multiple roadshows and rallies.

“Even though we have been out of power for the last 10 years, we never stopped working for the people. My son Abhishek worked day and night for the people and stood by them relentlessly during the pandemic. Even though he was a corporator, his popularity was immense. Today people are coming to us with teary eyes and telling us that they will vote for us because of the goodwill that my son has built,” Ghosalkar said.

Chaudhuri maintained that the sympathy wave is not going to work for the Ghosalkars considering her diligent work for the people.

“I am not worried about any sympathy waves. It would have mattered if they had fielded Tejasvee instead. I have worked for the people continuously and have solved a maximum number of issues that plagued citizens ten years ago. At present, I am following up with the road concretisation work to ensure the existing issue of vehicular congestion gets resolved,” Chaudhuri said.

The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has fielded Rajesh Yerunkar for the second time this year. Earlier in 2019, Yerunkar had earned more than 17,000 votes. Political analysts say that the introduction of an MNS candidate will divide Sena (UBT)’s votes considering the fact that many Marathi voters would opt for MNS over Sena (UBT) due to its alliance with Congress and NCP (SP).

“My party has fielded me as a standalone candidate and I am hopeful to emerge as the winning candidate from here. We can sense that the local people are looking for a change since they are fed up with serious issues like poor civic amenities and drug menace affecting their lives,” Yerunkar told The Indian Express.

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Constituency name: Dahisar

Candidates: Manisha Chaudhuri (Bharatiya Janata Party- Mahayuti); Vinod Ghosalkar (Shiv Sena UBT – Maha Vikas Aghadi)

Population (Number of voters): 2.6 lakh.

Muslim voters 6.1%, Christian 4.5%, around 70% comprises Gujaratis, Maharashtrian and North Indians, while the remaining comprises other communities.

Voter turnout figures in 2019 Assembly elections: 54.46%

Winner in 2019 and margin: Manisha Chaudhuri defeated Congress’s Arun Sawant by 63,917 votes.

Party that led the Assembly Constituency in 2024 Lok Sabha elections: BJP (Mahayuti) by 62,247 votes.