When you go to vote today, political parties will be watching you very closely because, for them, every vote matters in this election. From three, the number of major players has increased to five — in some cases, it has gone up to six, with regional parties fielding candidates in hitherto unexplored territory for them. With the division of vote share, every vote is going to count.

In the falling apart of BJP-Shiv Sena and Congress-NCP, parties that were earlier non-existent in the city have smelled an opportunity. The All-India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM), which, till date, restricted itself to only Hyderabad and some corporation seats in Nanded, has put up half a dozen candidates in Mumbai, in the Muslim-dominated belts of Mumbadevi, Versova, Mankhurd-Shivaji Nagar and others. This has put the Congress, NCP and Samajwadi Party in a fix. MIM will now eat into votes which these parties assumed would come to them. The Congress, especially, which assumed the Muslims were on its side, will be worried. With the five-corner contest, it is set to lose its traditional vote bank, and the consolidation of Hindu votes may help saffron parties take the lead.