Tamil Selvan Vs Ganesh Yadav: Tamil Voters In Mumbai Closely Watch High-Stake Battle Between South Indian Candidates In Sion-Koliwada

Mumbai: All eyes of the Tamil population of Mumbai are on the Sion-Koliwada assembly constituency where two Tamilians are pitted against each other. The sitting MLA is Capt Tamil Selvan (64) of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He is being opposed by Ganesh Yadav (33) of the Congress. Tamil Selvan has a distinct advantage over Yadav because he was elected twice in the past from the same constituency, which has a large number of slums, dilapidated buildings and a few new towers.

Selvan was elected in 2014 and 2019. Before that he was a corporator. 

His victory in 2014 was impressive because a phalanx of rivals was pitted against him. Selvan defeated his immediate rival Mangesh Satamkar, a senior leader of the undivided Shiv Sena. The other rivals in the fray were Jagannath Shetty, ex-MLA of the Congress, Prasad Lad of the NCP (now in BJP) and prominent Dalit leader Manoj Sansare. In the 2019 elections, Selvan repeated his performance by trouncing Yadav by an impressive margin of 14,000 votes. Yadav's supporters claim that the anti-incumbency factor is at play this time around. However, Selvan supporter G Gopal countered this. Said he: "For the past ten years captain has been active in the constituency.  He knows every nook of the area and has kept in touch with the electorate." Two other factors favouring Selvan is the fact that Prasad Lad is now in the BJP and occupies an important slot in the party hierarchy. He is actively campaigning for Selvan. Also, Ravi Raja, a five-time corporator from the area recently quit the Congress in disgust and joined the BJP. He is also canvassing support for Selvan. The area has a large number Tamil, Marathi, Muslim, Sikh and north Indian voters.  The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has a large office complex in the area and it has a sizable presence in the constituency. The Sikh Samaj has also appealed to the community to vote for the BJP.

For a man who left his small village in Pudukkotai in Tamil Nadu several years ago and came to Mumbai in search of a job, Selvan has politically done well for himself. He was a railway parcel contractor who rescued 35 passengers at CST when Ajmal Kasab, a Pakistani terrorist, opened fire at the terminus in November 2008.

Yadav prides on the fact that he has an MBA degree from Welingkar College while Selvan is only 10th pass. Said Sridhar Rao, a local voter: "In elections education qualifications do not matter. What matters is work among the community. On that score captain Selvan is streets ahead of others. Also, Yadav has the tag of being a defeated candidate."