Bandra West's woes continue despite Shelar's stellar record

UNHAPPY RESIDENTS | Despite being affluent and centrally located, the constituency grapples with a list of civic problems like traffic and hawkers

- Megha Kuohik

Bandra West Assembly constituency (177) is one of the 26 Vidhan Sabha constituencies in the Mumbai suburban district. It's known for its diverse population (three lakh registered voters) but the Koli community has a notable presence here and Muslim voters play a decisive role in the electoral outcome.

Prior to the 2008 delimitation of assembly seats, Bandra West was part of the larger Bandra Assembly constituency, which was represented by notable leaders, including Ramdas Nayak. A general category assembly seat, today it is one of the six segments that make up the Mumbai North Central parliamentary constituency.

For many years, Bandra West was considered a stronghold of the Congress party. However, in a significant shift during the 2014 assembly election, the BJP took control of the seat. Ashish Shelar, 51, the BJP candidate, defeated Congress heavyweight Baba Siddique by over 26,000 votes. Shelar repeated his victory in 2019, once again securing a win over Congress by a similar margin.

The LLB holder Shelar has built strong connections with the local Christian and Muslim communities. Traditionally, Muslim voters have supported the Congress in both Assembly and Lok Sabha elections. However, in the recent assembly elections, some of them have shifted their support to the BJP, possibly due to Shelar's rapport with the community.