Lok Sabha elections 2019: Shetty vs Matondkar contest in Mumbai North delivers the highest turnout

The much-talked about contest between Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Gopal Shetty and Bollywood actor Urmila Matondkar for Congress saw the highest voter turnout in Mumbai at 59.32%.

The constituency, which includes Borivli, Kandivli, Dahisar, Charkop and parts of Malad, was regarded as a stronghold of the BJP, but Matondkar has put up strong fight. If the voting pattern on Monday is any indication, Shetty has an edge over Matondkar.

Traditional BJP strongholds, including the Borivli Assembly segment, saw a significant turnout that could help Shetty.

The lower turnout was recorded in Magathane, which has a sizeable Marathi-speaking population. Long queues were seen across voting centres in the constituency in the first half as a lot of office goers and senior citizens ventured out to vote early in the day. While there were separate queues for senior citizens in each centre, many of them had to wait for long even after voting, as their relatives were still in queue.

“I got done within 10 minutes, but my family members have been in queue since 45 minutes. I cannot go home alone and would have to wait for them to get done,” said Prabhavati Patil, 83, who has voted in all elections since 1954.

Many voters were disappointed to find their names missing from the electoral rolls. Pradosh Pisat, 48, a resident of Saibaba Nagar, said that he did not find his name and had to return from the polling centre. “I have been voting for several years now and thus assumed that my name would be there in the list. This is really disappointing,” he added.

There were many who came from far-off places to exercise their right.

Kunal Dani, a former resident of Borivli, now lives in Nashik with his family. The family travelled all the way to the city to cast their vote. “We cancelled all our commitments today,” he added.