A close encounter with candidates on D-day

For Mehta’s arch-rival Murli Deora, the day started earlier than usual. Deora, who usually gets up between 7-8 am, today woke up at 6 am. His son Mukul, wife Hema and servant Dhodi followed suit.

After his customary puja and light breakfast, Murli Deora plonked himself in one corner of his Pedder Road residence, glued to his mobile.

An hour later, no doubt, reassured by the long conversations on his mobile, Murli Deora en famille ventured towards the Breach Candy polling booth. Deora, Hema and Mukul cast their votes. Thereon, Deora proceeded to check out various booths in his constituency.

His convoy passed through several gallis and mohallas of the different slums in Mumbai Central.Wherever he saw a group of people, he would roll down his window and urge, “Jao bhai, aapna vote jaldi do. Jao na baba, jao na.”

North Mumbai Congress (I) candidate Ram Pandagale should set aside an astronomical sum to pay for the innumerable calls received on his mobile telephone on the pollingday.

Ever since he started the day at 8.00 am from his mother’s samadhi in Kandivali (East), the kurta-clad Congressman, seated in “his friend’s Armada”, (read “It was not my car!”) was busy talking on the mobile. The day began with phone calls from activists even when Pandagale was dressing up at his Damu Nagar residence, along with his corporator wife and two schoolgoing children. After a rather short puja at the adjacent samadhi mandir, he proceeded towards Kurar village (Malad).

Initial hours in the morning were particularly devoted to slum areas by Pandagale. He hurriedly drove past slum colonies like Ambedkar Nagar, Sanjay Nagar, Santosh Nagar and Pathanwadi. He used to stop the “friend’s armada” to share a word or two with select volunteers. When asked, “Why do you concentrate on these slum localities only? Any plans to go to the distant suburbs like Vasai, Virar and Naigaum?” Pandagale retorted, “My voters are here in these slums. What has the present state government or the Centralgovernment given them? I am going to be their voice.” So that was Pandagale’s clear policy decision to “be where your voters’ are”.

After initial rounds in slum pockets, Pandagale took a short break to cast his vote in Damu Nagar. Then he started again for the most crucial part of his electorate: Babrekar Nagar in Kandivali (West). The slum colony is seething with discontent after the recent demolition drive. And Pandagale hoped to derive political mileage from this vicinity. Pandagale’s otherwise quiet morning, with no reported incidents of poll-related violence, was disturbed by a rather interesting incident in the afternoon. Pandagale’s wife was taken into custody by the Kandivali police. It so happened that she had entered one of the polling booths. And as luck would have it, Ram Naik spotted her and registered a police complaint. Pandagale then went to the police station to complete the formalities for her release. Well, part of the game, he said after the police let her out.

Sharad Rao begins hisD-Day surrounded by anxieties. The poll outcome of the day happens to be the least of them though.

His problems are that his wife, Shanta, has developed severe leg-pains and is hobbling; his son Shashank is in the hospital; and his mother has had a paralytic attack.

We reach his flat in Goregoan at 6:30 am. And though it is still dark outside, Rao’s home is a buzzing hive. Rao is taking a bath. The TV is on. But instead of a news programme, it’s showing a WWF match! At 6.35, Rao breezes in. He goes straight to the Ganapati idol on the showcase to offers a prayer. He makes a few thank-you phone calls and comes out apologising for being late. Rao gobbles down a plate of sevai, gulps down tea and is ready to cast his vote. By 7.25, we are on our way. The first stop is at a Ganpati temple where he and his wife offer prayers. The next stop is the Nanavati Hospital to check on his son’s health. By 8.00, we are off to the constituency. The roads are still semi-deserted and by 8.20, we are in his office on N MJoshi Road, where he briefs party workers. Later, he reconfirms the logistics of sustaining the election effort — which includes nitty-gritties like bananas for breakfast and rice for lunch for 12,000 volunteers. Rao inspects the huge pandal which is the JD-kitchen. Around 30 people are dishing out food into polythene bags from huge vessels.

By 11.30 begins a whirlwind tour of the polling centres in his constituency to meet his partymen and keep their morale high, as also ensure that there is no bogus voting. The day dwindles to a predictable sequence of centres, visits, unfinished teas,…Parel, Lalbaug, Chinchpokli, Worli, Nagpada… The caterer has goofed up and instead of delivering 12,000 lunches, he managed only 9,300.

Similarly, shooting down `problems’ marked the day of reckoning or Mohan Rawle, Shiv Sena candidate and sitting Member of Parliament. `Problems’ in the form of rigging charges, unauthorised counters set up or blatant lobbying on the part of his supporters. The information on suchnefarious activities is provided to the candidate via his network of party workers across polling booths across the constituency.

Rawle’s mini-motorcade (three cars and a police jeep) weaves in and out of polling booths to greet supporters and voters. There are unconfirmed reports of gadbad in a few booths. Rawle & co stealthily walk into these `danger zones’ and soon discover that all’s clear.

At Sundar Galli, Byculla, party workers complain that four identified armed men had come to threaten them. Help is but a cellular phone away. Rawle calls up Param Bir Singh, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone 2). Within half an hour, Singh arrives to “look into the matter”.

However the day which turned out to be so hectic, had begun on a pleasant note. After performing a pooja at home, Rawle, his wife Indira and two children left home at 7.45 am to visit the Sidhivinayak temple. They then went to Shivaji Park to garland the bust of Meenatai Thackeray. “Meenatai used to like chapha flowers, so we make garlandsout of chapha flowers only” explains Rawle adding on a lighter note, “I must order a garland on March 2. That is, presuming I win the elections of course!”

“A Gandhi picked up a handful of salt and drove away the British, this Gandhi raises his hand to fight corruption,” says a poster at Samajwadi Party’s (SP) makeshift office in Bandra. There, Tushar Gandhi’s resemblance to his illustrious ancestor ends.

Clad in a white dhoti kurta, Tushar, contesting from North-West Mumbai, had a long blood red streak of kumkum across his forehead which the priest in his building had smeared. Then, after briefly praying in front of his more illustrious ancestor’s portrait, Tushar was raring to go.

“My chances are very good. The fight will be tough. Sarpotdar is a formidable opponent but people know who the right man is,” said a confident Tushar.

After casting his vote at Poddar High School, Santacruz, Gandhi began his rounds of the polling booths in his constituency. He said he hoped to cover all the majorareas by 5 pm.

In contrast, election day was “nothing special” for sitting MP and Shiv Sena candidate Madhukar Sarpotdar.

Rising as usual at 6.30 am, Sarpotdar, who had spent a late night with party workers, looked fresh and active.

After offering his regular pooja at his residence at Bandra East, Sarpotdar, donned in a white kurta-pyjama and a dark jacket, dashed off with a few Sainiks and his personal security guards to cast his vote. “You see, this is just another day for me … of course the elections are there but I am not bothered in the least. I did not even think of doing anything special,” he said.

If not the day, at least one among the 15.24 lakh voters is special to Sarpotdar: Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray.

After exercising his franchise, Sarpotdar moved around in the constituency for a couple of hours, but from then on, spent a major part of the day at his office, getting reports of voter turnout through Sena sources.When reports of an unprecedented high voter turnout trickled infrom the Muslim pockets in the constituency, especially at Bandra, Khar and Santacruz, Sarpotdar was unmoved. “For me, a voter is a voter first and then a Hindu or a Muslim. I have never sought votes on religious grounds, and the higher the turnout, the better I think are my chances,” he said.

Dalit leader and RPI’s hope from the North-Central constituency, Ramdas Athavale, began his day at 6.30 am today by touching the feet of his mother, Hausabai Athavale. He then bowed down and prayed before the idols of Babasaheb Ambedkar and Gautam Buddha kept in the living room of his pretty little bungalow at Charkop in Kandivli (West).

When asked if he was feeling nervous, Athavale said: “Although I am excited about the polls, I am not nervous. This is definitely an important day as I’m myself contesting the elections, but I am treating it as a game as a true sportsman.”

By 7.50 am he was through with the morning newspapers and breakfast, and put on his red jacket – ready to go out and indulge himself insome heavy doze of national politics. His mobile phone, though, remained silent till as late as 8.30 am his party workers knew that Ramdas won’t talk to anyone till he had cast his vote for Ram Pandagale (Cong) at a nearby booth in Kandivli.Athavale, though, could not have left the house without wife Seema

performing the mandatory aarti. All the womenfolk in the Athavale household – wife, mother, ayah and little daughter – performed the traditional puja and put a red tilak on the forehead of Athavale in the hope that he be victorious.

He then got into his white Tata Estate (it has a bumper sticker that reads `Get Rid of Jerks’!) and was amongst the first few to cast his vote at a Kandivli polling station.

“What’s your name?” a lady official at the polling centre innocently asked Athavale, who didn’t really mind her ignorance and stated his name matter of factly.

Having exercised his franchise, Athavale was off to Chaityabhoomi in Dadar to garland the statue of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar and then wentoff to the Dadar constituency to interact with the party workers and get a feel of the city’s first phase of voting.

But for a minor scuffle in Dharavi between the Shiv Sena and RPI party activists in the morning, voting was peaceful in the North-Central constituency. Reportedly, in Dharavi’s Ward number 68 the volunteers of both the parties got into a argument over the setting up of information tables for the help of the electorate of the area. The RPI activists had complained that the Shiv Sena table was right outside one polling station and hence it came within the restricted range of 200 metres, as per EC guidelines.

The police directed the Sena table to be shifted further away, that was the end of the matter.

For his main opponent Narain Athavale, the day began like any other day. There were no fancy pujas, and definitely no touching of feet. As his wife, Anuradha Athawalay informed: “My husband got us as usual at 5.30 am and the first thing he did was cast his vote in a nearby Bandra booth.That’s it, a very simple affair.”

FOR sitting Member of Parliament and Bharatiya Janata Party candidate from North-East Mumbai constituency, Pramod Mahajan Saturday bagan like any other normal day.

Rising at the crack of dawn, the Mahajan residence was sans any poojas or artis. Mahajan left his residence, Purna located at Pochkhanwala Road, Worli at 7.15 am for the municipal school located just opposite his building to cast his vote in favour of Mohan Rawle, candidate from South-Central Mumbai. After casting his vote, at around 7.45 am, Mahajan accompanied by daughter Poonam and a band of BJP workers left for rounds to the different Assembly segments of his constituency.

First halt was Trombay, where he was greeted by BJP and Shiv Sena workers with garlands.

Some polling booths of the Chembur assembly segment was next, followed by visits to polling booths in Kurla, Vikhroli, Ghatkopar and Mulund segments. However, Mahajan skipped the all important area of Ramabai Ambedkar Nagar. Party workers saidthat all throughout the day Mahajan was in a jolly good mood and seemed confident. For Gurudas Kamat, Mahajan’s bete noire, the day started at 2.30 am, when he went to bed. He had been at the Mulund police station last night complaining about deputy chief minister Gopinath Munde’s campaigns even after the campaigning period had come to an end. Having had a `fitful sleep’ of less than two hours, Kamat got up at 4 am, to bathe.

Kamat then visited the Hanuman temple a few blocks away, the Siddhivinayak temple at Prabhadevi and two others at Matunga and Chembur and performed `abhishek’ seeking the blessings of the gods early in the morning. “I can’t take any chances,” he confessed.

Wearing a T shirt and trousers, Kamat cast his vote. He came back to his house, and was out on the streets ten minutes later supervising the work of his cadres. He had posted batches of Congress workers and those of the alliance parties to check any attempt of the sort. His evening was spent in issuing letters of protest andfaxing them to chief election comissioner D K Shankaran regarding the alleged activities of deputy chief minister Gopinath Munde and his secretary after campaign hours. At 8 pm he had to rush off, to supervise the batches standing guard at the Mulund strong-room. “With the BJP-SS in power, you can’t take chances,” he added.