Aaditya Thackeray, the first from his family to ever contest an election, defeats Suresh Mane of NCP
Aaditya Thackeray outside the Western Sports Complex, Mahalaxmi on Thursday. Pic/Bipin Kokate
A sea of saffron that greeted Aaditya Thackeray outside the counting centre, grew after he was declared the winner in the assembly polls from Worli, reminiscent of the crowds that greeted his grandfather, Bal Thackeray's rallies. The Yuva Sena chief, who made his electoral debut by contesting the Worli assembly constituency this year, emerged victorious after beating his rival Suresh Mane of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) by a margin of 67,427 votes. Aaditya bagged a total of 89,248 votes (or 69.14%) of the total 1,29,074 votes cast in Worli.
The Shiv Sena's Sunil Govind Shinde had won the Worli seat during the 2014 assembly election by a margin of 23,012 votes. Sena workers and supporters, mostly youths, were present outside the Western Railway Sports Ground in Mahalaxmi on Thursday, since the counting of votes kicked off at 8 AM, and stayed there till the evening, when the result was declared.
Jubilant sainiks
As the day progressed and Aaditya's lead increased by leaps and bounds, the mood outside the counting centre became even more jubilant. Numerous saffron flags in the hands of multiple pillion riders, made their way to the venue, where the crowd - many dressed in the colour - was yearning for their leader to win with a margin of 1 lakh votes. Susheel Kumar Varma, a Shiv Sena supporter who was present outside the counting centre, earlier said, "We were aiming for 1 lakh plus votes but because of the low voter turnout, we will get around 85,000 votes." Blaming the low voter turnout, he said that it was the direct result of it being a holiday on voting day, as well as an extended weekend, because of which many citizens had shirked their constitutional right of voting.
"We wanted more youngsters to vote...they do not have much political awareness," he said.
Shiv Sena worker Rajesh Dubey said of the polls, "Chunao ka mahol tha lekin mazaa nahin aaya (It was election atmosphere, but it wasn't that much fun). Who do we fight against when there is no opposition? Aaditya ke aane ke baad sab maidaan chodke bhaag gaye (After Aaditya came into the fray, everyone ran away)." Outside the counting centre, a group of young girls wearing various shades of saffron, raised the slogan, "Aaditya aage badho, hum tumhaare saath hai," at regular intervals outside the polling centre.
'Targetted youth'
"Our campaign was done keeping in mind the 18-30 year age bracket," said 29-year-old Aakarshika Patil. "In Worli, there are almost 42,000 youth voters...we wanted to impact them. Aaditya and I are the same age, but he is the one shouldering responsibility and fulfilling his political destiny...that's the kind of person he is," she added. Aaditya greeted party workers and supporters outside the counting centre at 5 PM, flanked by Sena leaders Sunil Shinde and Milind Narvekar, as he made his way to collect his winning certificate. "I am very happy that the people have blessed me," he said.
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