INFORMATIVE

Name: Arvind Sawant Constituency: Mumbai South Two-term member of Parliament from Mumbai South constituency, Arvind Sawant, 73, started his political journey as a party worker with the Shiv Sena, when he started participating in agitations such as the Maharashtra- Karnataka border dispute protests.  He got into the trade union movement, when he founded the workers union of the Mahanagar Telephone Nigam limited (MTNL), where he worked.  Subsequently, he quit his job in 1995 to plunge into full-time politics and was nominated twice as member of legislative council ( MLC) from 1996-2010. He also played an active role in the Bharatiya…

Are you a resident of Ramapuram or Alandur, who thinks your ward comes under the Chennai South Parliamentary Constituency? Well, you are wrong! Knowing the boundaries of the Parliamentary constituencies is important because some of the wards that fall in Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) limits belong to the suburban parts of Chennai when it comes to Parliamentary voting, which is entirely different when we consider the profile of the urban and suburban areas. There are 200 wards under 15 Zones in the GCC limit. However, some of the wards in GCC limits fall under the Thiruvallur and Sriperumbudur Parliamentary Constituencies.…

Name: Manoj Kotak Constituency: Mumbai North East Manoj Kotak started working for the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) in 1989. Before being elected as an MP from the Mumbai North East constituency in the 17th Lok Sabha elections (2019), he served as a Municipal Corporator from Mulund from 2007 to 2019. In the 2019 elections, Manoj Kotak got 56.61 percent of the total of 9,09,181 votes cast, getting 5,14,599 votes. He defeated his nearest rival, Sanjay Dina Patil of the NCP by 2,26,486 votes. Kotak was chosen to contest the elections instead of popular leader Kirit Somaiya, who was reportedly gearing…

Chennai North is a Lok Sabha constituency composed of the assembly segments including Royapuram, Kolathur, T.V.K.Nagar, Perambur, Thiruvottiyur and Dr Radhakrishnan Nagar. This constituency elected its first Member of Parliament in 1957. The incumbent MP is Dr. Kalanidhi Veeraswamy. Chennai North is not only home to many red-category industries that stretch from North Chennai through Manali to Ennore but also hosts the city’s largest garbage dump — Kodungaiyur dump yard. The constituency has two coal-fired power plants and their ash dumps, coal stacking yards, a 10.5 million tonnes/year petroleum refinery, dozens of petrochemical industries, fertiliser plants, three large ports and…

One of the three Lok Sabha constituencies representing the city, Chennai South comprises localities maintained by two different civic bodies: Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) and Tambaram Corporation. And thus, the issues prevailing in the constituency are also contrasting. While the localities under Tambaram Corporation are grappling with the lack of basic amenities, those under GCC require improvement in the amenities provided decades ago. Sholinganallur is one of the largest assembly constituencies, with a voter base of six lakh. Chennai South constituency boasts a highly educated populace, with a significant presence of IT industries and educational institutions. Unique to this area…

As India gets ready to vote to decide who will represent them in Parliament, Citizen Matters is speaking to elected Parliamentary representatives from Mumbai. We will ask them about the work they have done for the city, policies they have supported and why Mumbaikars should cast votes in their favour (or of their political parties). As part of this series, we spoke to Gajanan Kirtikar, who represented Mumbai North West for the past two terms. He is an active Parliamentarian who was one of top 10 MPs who asked the maximum number of questions during their tenure, according to a report…

Name: Gajanan Kirtikar  Constituency: Mumbai North West Gajanan Kirtikar, 80 is an old hand in Maharashtra politics and has risen up the ranks of his party. He has always been with the Shiv Sena, having been part of the core team of Bal Thackeray, subsequently working under Uddhav Thackeray. He chose to move to the Shiv Sena faction led by present chief minister Eknath Shinde.  He served as a legislator for four terms between 1990 to 2009 and then entered the Parliament for two terms from 2014. He also served as the minister of state for home and tourism and…

Name: Gopal Chinayya Shetty Constituency: Mumbai North Member of Parliament, Gopal Chinayya Shetty, 69 has been representing the area that falls under Mumbai North constituency in various capacities. First, he worked as a local corporator for three terms since 1992 and later, went on to become Mumbai’s deputy mayor. After that he rose to the state assembly from the Maharashtra legislative assembly from 2004 to 2014.  Since then, Shetty has been representing the Mumbai North constituency for two Parliamentary terms. In 2014, Shetty defeated Congress’ Sanjay Nirupam by polling in 70.1% of the voteshare by getting 6,64,004 votes as against…

A month after the BMC announced its budget for the fiscal year 2024-25, experts called for greater citizen participation in the planning and implementation of the budget. Not only is the BMC the richest civic body in the country, but also this year they have announced the highest budget ever at nearly Rs. 60,000 crore. Secondly, elections have not taken place after the term of the previous elected officials ended in March 2022. The Municipal Commissioner, appointed as the administrator, has been at the helm of the civic body's functioning for two years now. The corporation was put under an administrator…

Devendra Fadnavis, the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra recently launched the Mumbai Metropolis  Metaverse, an immersive virtual representation of the way Mumbai will look by the year 2025. This metaverse includes twelve infrastructure projects, which is said will transform Mumbai. One of these projects is the Mumbai Metro. Citizen Matters looks at existing Metro Lines, their connections with Central and Western suburban railways and the prominent areas/stations they connect. Which are the three lines currently operational in Mumbai? Blue Line or Line 1 On 8th June, 2014 the first metro line was started in Mumbai. It was dubbed the Blue…