In twelve electoral wards where the MNS candidate also performed fairly, the BJP emerged as the winner with a slender margin over the Shiv Sena candidate.
While the jury may still be out on whether the BMC results indicate polarisation along parochial or linguistic lines, a closer look at the results reveal that there were 12 wards where votes split between the Shiv Sena and MNS may have resulted in the BJP making inroads there.
In twelve electoral wards where the MNS candidate also performed fairly, the BJP emerged as the winner with a slender margin over the Shiv Sena candidate.
The electoral wards which the Shiv Sena lost to BJP by a slim margin include ward 207 (Kasturbha Hospital-Byculla Railway Station) by 43 votes, ward 190 (Navjivan Society-VSNL Colony) by 443 votes, ward 74 (Durga Nagar-Kamaal Amrohi Studio) by 458 votes, ward 58 (Oshiwara, Goregaon, BEST Nagar) by 547 votes, ward 52 (Yashodham Vidyalay-Gokul Dham) by 450 votes, ward 43 (Pathanwadi-Konkani Pada) by 709 votes.
However, in these wards, MNS received votes ranging from 2,385 to 7,769 votes.
Speaking on whether an alliance between the Shiv Sena and MNS could have brought down the BJP's tally, Neelam Gore, Shiv Sena's deputy leader and spokesperson, said, "In some wards, MNS put up a good fight. For us, winning back Dadar was an important goal. We managed to extend our dominance across six wards. When MNS approached us for an alliance, we had already assigned our seats. We also have ideological differences with MNS, and the change would have demoralised our karyakartas. The non-Marathi speaking population has voted for us across a number of wards. Our aim was to be true to our supporters".
Number game
Ward 207
BJP tally: 6005
Shiv Sena tally: 5962
MNS tally: 2664
Difference in BJP-Sena votes: 43
Ward 190
BJP tally: 8401
Shiv Sena tally: 7958
MNS tally: 7769
Difference in BJP-Sena votes: 443
Ward 52
BJP tally: 6696
Shiv Sena tally: 6246
MNS tally: 2610
Difference in BJP-Sena votes: 450
Ward 74
BJP tally: 9713
Shiv Sena tally: 9255
MNS tally: 2385
Difference in BJP-Sena votes: 458
Ward 58
BJP tally: 7153
Shiv Sena tally: 6606
MNS tally: 2756
Difference in BJP-Sena votes: 547
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