Urmila Matondkar gives Congress hope in BJP stronghold of Mumbai North

The Congress had reportedly struggled to find a candidate to take on sitting BJP MP Gopal Shetty in Mumbai North, but the entry of actor Urmila Matondkar has turned the seat into something resembling a real contest. The constituency votes on April 29.

A BJP stronghold

Mumbai North is one of the BJP’s strongest seats in Maharashtra. In 2014, Shetty, a former corporator and several-time MLA, defeated former Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam by 4.46 lakh votes, one of the widest margins in the country. Shetty polled 6.64 lakh votes against Nirupam’s 2.17 lakh.

Nirupam had won in 2009 by just 5,779 votes against five-time MP and senior BJP leader Ram Naik, helped largely by the 1.47 lakh votes taken by Shirish Parkar of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena.

Observers said Congress workers had been demoralised after Nirupam reportedly showed reluctance to contest again, and that Matondkar, who has impressed many with how she speaks on political issues, has made sure the BJP can no longer treat the seat as a walkover.

The constituency

Once among the largest Lok Sabha seats in the country, Mumbai North was reduced in the 2008 delimitation. Areas beyond Dahisar went to the Palghar seat, while newer segments such as Magathane, Charkop, Kandivali (East) and Malad (West) were added. Of its six Assembly segments, the BJP holds Dahisar, Borivali, Kandivali (East) and Charkop; Magathane is held by ally Shiv Sena and Malad (West) by the Congress’s Aslam Sheik.

The seat has over 18 lakh voters, and turnout in 2014 was 53.07 per cent. Population growth, housing, healthcare and transport are key issues, along with the lack of basic facilities in some Adivasi settlements in Sanjay Gandhi National Park.

The campaigns

Matondkar said her connection with voters came from empathy and respect, and that she was asking them to make her their representative. She said she was not playing the “Marathi card”, though observers expect the Maharashtrian vote to be decisive.

Local Congress leader Kalu Bundhela said the party was counting on a traditional base of 2.5 lakh votes, the backing of the MNS, and an estimated 1.15 lakh Muslim and Christian voters. He put the number of Maharashtrian voters at 6.5 lakh and Gujarati speakers at 5.5 lakh, and claimed that winning 7-8 per cent of their votes would secure victory.

Shetty’s supporters point to his grassroots connect, and even opponents credit his work on protecting open spaces and gardens in Borivali. Shetty described the 2004 election of actor Govinda as a bad experience for the public, denied that small traders were angry over GST, and said he had ensured voters benefited from schemes such as Ujjwala Yojana and Ayushman Bharat. He also claimed credit for improving suburban stations and for the city’s first air-conditioned local train on Western Railway. Observers noted friction on the ground between the BJP and the local Sena unit.

See also: Indian National Congress, constituencies

Originally published on 27 April 2019. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

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