Jogeshwari East: A Battle Of Three Candidates With Shiv Sena Legacy

Jogeshwari East is one of the tightly contested assembly seats in the Maharashtra elections. A stronghold of the undivided Shiv Sena, the prominent candidates vying from the seat all have the Sena legacy. The constituency has been represented by Ravindra Waikar from 2014 onwards, who is now the candidate of the ruling Mahayuti alliance.

During the 2019 assembly elections, Waikar retained the seat, defeating Congress’ Sunil Bisan Kumre by a margin of around 58,787 votes. During the 2014 assembly elections, the runner-up was the BJP’s Ujjwala Modak. However, with the major change in politics—the splits in
Shiv Sena and NCP—the dynamics from the constituency have become unpredictable.

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Notably, with the rebellion candidates, independents, and others, the constituencies of Jogeshwari East and Mankhurd have the highest nominations from Mumbai—around 22— for the upcoming assembly elections. Considered as one of the strong candidates, the MVA candidate and Shiv Sena UBT leader Anant Bala Nar is one of the influential figures among the predominant Adivasis. He has campaigned for the land claims of the community and spoke for their improvement in amenities and thus believed to swing the adivasi votes his way.

The Mahayuti candidate, Shinde Sena has nominee and the sitting MLA Manisha Waikar, wife of MP Ravindra Waikar, who won the Mumbai North West parliamentary seat in the recent Lok Sabha elections, is the major challenger of the Sena UBT. However, the candidature of Waikar has caused rebellion from the BJP leader Dharmendranath Thakur over ticket denial. He is now contesting the election as independent.

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Another prominent candidate, also from the Shiv Sena family – the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) – has also fielded a candidate from the seat. Bhalchandra Ambure, though against the two powerful rivals, could possible sway the result, influencing the vote shares among the candidates with Shiv Sena legacy.

Moreover, several other contestants, including the prominent independent candidate and tribal rights activist Vitthal Lad, can be a significant force from Jogeshwari. Though he could secure only 3,857 votes in the 2019 assembly elections on an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ticket, the tribal rights activist can accumulate some adivasis votes in his favor.