Urmila Matondkar loses by 4.6 lakh votes, sees biggest defeat

Mumbai: The Congress’ move to field a Bollywood actress, Urmila Matondkar, in Mumbai against a sitting MP of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Gopal Shetty, with an objective to win fans’ votes failed miserably in 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

In the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, the Congress had fielded another Bollywood superstar Govinda for the Mumbai North seat against stalwart Ram Naik.

The strategy worked out for them when Govinda defeated Mr Naik. However, the citizens chose BJP candidate Mr Shetty above Ms Matondkar this election. The actress lost by a margin of almost 4.65 lakh votes, which was the highest defeat margin in Maharashtra.

In 2004, when Govinda, who was contesting the elections for the first time, won against Mr Naik, who was a five time sitting MP and a longest-serving petroleum minister of the country, the nation was taken by surprise.  

However, this year the Congress’ strategy failed owing to the still existing Modi wave in the country.

Speaking to media, Mr Shetty said, “I am not a celebrity but a ‘household product’ who has a reach to every person in the constituency. Despite having a celebrity against me, people voted for me as they chose development”.

Ms Matondkar and Govinda were fielded from the same constituency— Mumbai North, however, in 2004 the constituency also included Palghar and Vasai-Virar but after delimitation of the constituency in 2008, they were exempted.

Govinda left politics after a time of poor performance. However, Ms Matondkar said she accepts her defeat and considers it as a humble beginning.