A month after announcing candidates for the two other seats in Mumbai, the BJP is still struggling to find a face for the North Central constituency. As the party has fielded two non-Marathi candidates already, the search is now on for a Marathi name. The Congress is also looking for a candidate who can represent the posh locality on the west side, as well as the slums on the east side.

The BJP announced candidates for almost all undisputed seats between MahaYuti in Maharashtra on March 13. The party announced candidacy for Piyush Goyal from North Mumbai and Mihir Kotecha for the North-East constituency on the same day, but didn’t mention anyone from North-Central, which is the first constituency with BJP. Even after a month, the party hasn’t decided on a name. “The party is looking for Marathi representation as the other two candidates are non-Marathi. The face is not only to attract votes from the constituency but also impact Marathi votes across the city,” said a BJP insider. 

The seat has been with the BJP for the last two elections. Poonam Mahajan, daughter of former minister Pramod Mahajan, is a sitting MP. But results from a ground survey report of the party does not reveal support for her. The BJP also considered fielding Ashish Shelar, Mumbai BJP president and Bandra MLA, Amit Satam or Parag Alavani who are sitting MLAs from Andheri and Vile Parle, but sources said all three were interested in the state assembly and didn’t agree to contest parliamentary elections. “It is almost a month and each passing day will make it difficult for the candidate to campaign, as the election is just a month away,” said a BJP worker. 

Priya Dutt, Sunil Dutt’s daughter, won from the constituency in 2009 and lost in 2014 and 2019. Poonam Mahajan got 4.86 lakh votes and Dutt received 3.56 lakh votes in 2019, which was considered a result of the Modi wave. These numbers, and the Sena (UBT) votes, make it a prominent seat for the Congress. Varsha Gaikwad and Naseem Khanare’s names have been making the rounds.

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