The reluctance of a section of BJP leaders to actively participate in campaigning had raised an alarm for Shiv Sena MP Rajan Vichare in the constituency.
Amidst rising mercury level, Thane recorded 49.95% turnout on Monday. The rapidly growing Thane constituency has around 23.70 lakh voters where Shiv Sena MP Rajan Vichare was pitted against NCP nominee Anand Paranjape.
The reluctance of a section of BJP leaders to actively participate in campaigning had raised an alarm for Shiv Sena MP Rajan Vichare in the constituency. Apart from this, the Shiv Sena's Thane district guardian minister Eknath Shinde' s decision to give more time to his son and party nominee Shrikant Shinde in Kalyan seat has also created a lot of hurdles for Vichare who had struggled to mobilise support.
Vichare focused on the work he has done in five years though he faced some resentment in certain areas. On the other hand, Paranjape raised Vichare's lacklustre performance in the Lok Sabha and less work carried out for the betterment of constituency. Paranjape received a boost after BJP-Shiv Sena's ally Republican Party of India (Athavale) decided to support him citing neglect from Vichare. In addition, minority votes from Thane city and around may play spoiler for Vichare.
Shiv Sena banked on the Marathi vote bank and hoped to cash in on its increased presence in Thane's upmarket Ghodbunder area and Mira-Bhayander civic body limit. Mira-Bhayandar has a sizable population of North Indians, who Shiv Sena with the help of BJP tried to lure.
The NCP, on the other hand, has a sizable control over Navi Mumbai as the party rules the civic body there.
Moreover, Paranjape through posters and social media raked up corruption issue forcing Shiv Sena to come clean. Besides, NCP also approached voters on seeking vote for a candidate with higher education qualification and one with less.
An industrialist Raju Manke hoped that newly elected MP should give priority on the completion of new irrigation dam to meet ever-rising water demand and also focus on strengthening transport infrastructure with the timely implementation of the Metro rail network and deployment of additional suburban trains.
First-time voter Mohan Kamble insisted that the MP should make efforts to encourage more investments to generate more jobs.
Polling
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