On voting day there is an air of festivity at the Ramabhai Ambedkar colony in Ghatkopar, on the eastern fringes Mumbai. On the highway that leads to Thane, the road is jam packed. On the right are Congress workers in full regalia with their caps, scarves and flags.
On the left are the Bharatiya Janata Party workers also in full strength. The voter has to pass this crowd on the way to the polling booth, with both sides calling exhorting him to vote for them. Further down you find a huge crowd of Nationalist Congress Party workers, both men and women, lined up along the road.
Add to this the Republican Party of India-Athawale workers with their blue uniforms and ‘Jai Bhim’ scarves.
The cigarette-seller, who is already reeking of liquor early in the morning, tells you that Ramabhai colony is not poor. “There are many government servants here, many pensioners too, why do you think they are poor, they are all rich.”
A lassi-seller was more colourful, “All are drunk, the political parties have distributed so much money here in the past fortnight. Can you stand in the sun and dance and scream like them? You cannot because you are not drunk. But the money this time is less compared to the Lok Sabha election.”
Near the polling booth there are crowds everywhere, the people were so enthusiastic about voting that it won't be surprising if the neighbourhood tops the voting percentage at the end of the day.
In central Mumbai’s Chembur’s Shell Colony road the crowds were arguing on the pavement. “The BJP is winning the state but the city will go the Shiv Sena way. The Congress will win here, you know they have been distributing saris, steel vessels, rice, they are smart, they give everything including money to women only. It actually reaches their homes, when you give money to men it reaches the nearest liquor shop,” says one of the voters.
At the national level the Congress may have given up the battle but not at ground zero. Whether it was Dharavi, Ghatkopar or Chembur, the Congress and NCP workers were the most visible. They have been in power for a decade and a half now and they are not going to give it up without a hard fought battle.
In Chembur, party workers were bringing voters to the booths in autorickshaws while in Nahur they were bringing them in SUVs. A newspaper agent in Chembur informs, “You know Sita Camp beyond Deonar, that is the only place where voters got money. Here all the money went to party workers,” he said.
In Dharavi, Koliwada, Antop Hill, Chembur, Nahur, Ramabai Colony, the enthusiasm for voting was most in the poorer areas. These are the people who vote in every election and they do it so happily.
Image: Voters outside a voting booth in Dharavi, Mumbai. Photograph: Sahil Salvi
