Bandra takes slow road to change

Two terms or 10 years after sitting MLAs Baba Siddiqui and Janardan Chandulkar came to power in Bandra (West) and (East), respectively, the citizens of Bandra, Khar and Santa Cruz voted "for a change'' on Tuesday.
Election officials said 43.12% of Bandra West's voters cast their ballots and 45% of Bandra East's voters showed up to vote.
However, earlier in the day voting continued at a slower pace.Only 34.85% or 1.5 lakh of the total 2.97 lakh voters in constituency Bandra (West) stepped out of their homes to get their fingers inked till 3 pm. The polling percentage Bandra (East) also remained dismal. Upto 3pm only 34.25% (or 89,492 of the total 2.61 lakh voters) had exercised their franchise. Election officers on duty attributed the slow pace to the sweltering October heat and a holiday declared by the government, which prompted many people to get out of the city for an extended weekend.
The Congress's Chandulkar was detained for over four hours at the BKC police station for allegedly distributing Rs 17,000 to voters at Tata Colony, Bandra (E). "A 10-year MLA would not go to a slum to distribute such a small amount. I respect the code of conduct and was only visiting the area to check on my party workers,'' he said.
In another incident, citizens registered a complaint with the Khar police against a man who appeared to be suspiciously loitering around in a polling booth at St Elias School, Khar. He was detained for questioning.
The battle in Bandra (W) is between sitting Congress MLA Baba Siddiqui and the BJP's Ashish Shelar. In the east, the major contenders are the Samajwadi Party's Shaikh Shabbir Hussain and Chandulkar. Several loyal Congress supporters rooted for the opposition, because "we have not seen any development in the last few years'', according to one voter. While these constituencies have a huge concentration of slums, a number of people live in buildings and high-rises too. Priorities were different for different sections of society.
"There are too many hawkers near high-rises and too much encroachment on open land. We want all this to stop. We don't mind anyone as long as he is committed to change,'' said model-actress Sushma Reddy, who came to vote before the "sun became too harsh''.
Slum voters turned up late to cast their votes, again for change. "For 15 years I have voted Congress without bothering about the outcome. But enough is enough; basic facilities such as water and sanitation are abysmal. This time I decided to give a chance to the Samajwadi Party,'' said 75-year-old Khan Mohammad, a resident of Behrampada, where a massive fire a few months back gutted many homes and claimed several lives. For many others, it was the same rigmarole of not finding their names on the voters' list or getting mixed up with the polling centers.