BJP has set an ambitious target for party nominees from Mumbai to win by over 1 lakh votes against the Congress-NCP alliance. Of the 36 seats, BJP with its allies are set to field candidates in 17, leaving 19 seats to Shiv Sena. The party hopes to mobilise support from various sections by cashing in on the Modi wave, registration of more party members and voters, especially first-time voters, and sterling performance of its nominees and Sena candidates in six Lok Sabha seats. So far, of the 17 seats in its quota, BJP has announced its nominees in Mulund (Mihir Kotecha) Kandivali East (Atul Bhatkhalkar), Dahisar (Manisha Chaudhari), Charkop (Yogesh Safar), Goregaon (Vidya Thakur), Andheri West (Amit Satam), Vile Parle (Parag Alavani), Ghatkopar West (Ram Kadam), Bandra West (Ashish Shelar), Sion Koliwada (Captain Tamil Selwan), Wadalan (Kalidas Kolambakar) and Mangalprabhat Lodha (Malabar Hill). The party is yet to announce nominees for Colaba, Borivali, Ghatkopar East and Versova. A BJP general secretary, who did not want to be identified, told DNA, “The BJP-led government has launched massive infrastructure development in Mumbai which will transform the city in a big way. Mumbaikars have supported BJP for re-election of the Modi government in Delhi. In all six Lok Sabha seats, BJP and Shiv Sena had won with higher margin in all 36 assembly segments. Therefore, party working president JP Nadda has exhorted that party nominees need to win by a margin of 1 lakh votes.” He said there was no anti-incumbency and the party has added more than 10 lakh new members in the city who are expected to cast their votes in favour of BJP nominees. Meanwhile, in Mumbai, Shiv Sena will continue to play role of BJP's big brother as the party will fight 19 seats and 17 by BJP. However, the party, in its mouthpiece Saamana, has accepted that it is no more the 'big brother' in the Maharashtra alliance as BJP has gained that position. “We have graciously accepted the reality and together as Maha Yuti are geared up for victory in the assembly election,'' the editorial said. Riding on the Modi wave in 2014 assembly poll when BJP and Sena had gone solo, some of the candidates have won with a margin of 50,000 votes. They included Vinod Tawde from Borivali by a margin of 79,267, Tara Singh from Mulund by 65,307, Yogesh Sagar from Charkop by 64,307, Ram Kadam from Ghatkoprar West by 41,916, Prakash Mehta from Ghatkopar East by 40,127, Manisha Chaudhary from Dahisar by 38,578 and Parag Alavani from Vile Parle by a margin of 32,435. In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, party nominee Gopal Shetty had won by polling 4,46,582 votes, Manoj Kotak from North East by 5,14,599 votes, Poonam Mahajan from north central by 130,005 votes. Party ally Shiv Sena candidate Gajanan Kirtikar retained north west seat by polling 5,70,063 votes, Rahul Shewale in south central by 1,52,139 votes and Arvind Sawant from south Mumbai by 74,000 votes. A BJP minister said the party was in a better position this time as it is fighting assembly polls jointly with the Sena. “Unlike Lok Sabha election, there are few chances of division of votes. The party had established a connect with people of various sections by appointing a vistarak in these constituencies. All efforts will be made for party candidates to improve their margin substantially,'' he said.

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