MUMBAI: A pothole-ridden, dusty road divides Bhiwandi East from Bhiwandi West, the two constituencies which have populations with almost identical profiles but voted very differently. While Bhiwandi East, a Muslim-majority seat, largely consolidated behind incumbent and Samajwadi Party candidate Rais Shaikh, Bhiwandi West, which too is a Muslim-majority seat, preferred BJP’s Choughule Mahesh Prabhakar.
Shaikh who got an impressive 119687 votes won by a huge margin of 52015 votes against runner up Santosh Shetty (Shiv Sena)’s 67672 votes. Unlike in Bhiwandi West where Riyaz Azmi (SP), Vilas Patil (independent), Dayanand Choraghe (Congress) and Waris Pathan (AIMIM) split the anti-Mahayuti votes among themselves, paving the way for BJP nominee Prabhakar’s victory for the third term with a comfortable margin of 31293 votes, in Bhiwandi East Shaikh did not have many competitors. Shaikh said, unlike the Bhiwandi West where the poll was polarised along religious lines, he stopped this polarisation and sought votes on his development works.
“During the entire campaign, I remained focused on the development works I had done like the better roads and school buildings I had got built. I got 62% of votes, one fourth of which came from my Hindu voters,” said Shaikh. The absence of AIMIM and any influential independent candidate and campaigning for him by sitting MP from NCP (Sharad Pawar) Baliya Mama helped Shaikh post an impressive victory.
Shaikh’s victory margin (52015 votes) this time is a leap from 2019 when he polled 45537 votes against Rupesh Mahatre (Shiv Sena)’s 44223 votes and won by a slender margin of 1314 votes. Observers said that what worked in Shaikh’s favour is also the consolidation of votes in half a dozen villages falling in Bhiwandi East.
“There are around six villages under Bhiwandi East constituency and these villages largely voted for Rais Shaikh. Local MP Baliya Mama whom Shaikh helped during the Lok Sabha elections returned his favours by campaigning for him in several segments. This did not happen in Bhiwandi West where Muslim votes got divided badly,” observed Congress functionary Fazil Ansari.
Bhiwandi resident Abdul Haseeb Jamayee said that had SP given ticket to an Ansari or Momin Muslim, instead of Riyaz Azmi, a Shaikh, he/she could have a better chance to win. “In 2009, Rashid Tahir Momin of SP won Bhiwandi West. Had SP nominated an Ansari or a Momin (these are Muslim weavers originally from UP), he could have won as this is the stronghold of Ansaris and Momins,” he said.