On Wednesday afternoon, during his roadshow in the Grant Road area in the Mumbadevi constituency in South Mumbai, the Congress’s sitting MLA Amin Patel waves to local residents from an open vehicle. He is flanked by women activists of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT). Most of his supporters thronging the rally are also women, some leading the roadshow, some trailing it, all of them shouting slogans in his favour.

In the course of his campaign over the last several days, Patel, 61, has been asserting that he “respects women”, going on later to highlight his “accomplishments” as the MLA of this seat for three consecutive terms since 2009.

Patel has resorted to this “firefighting” in the face of a backlash over the alleged derogatory remarks made by his ally Uddhav Sena’s South Mumbai MP Arvind Sawant against his rival Shaina N C, the fashion designer and former BJP national spokesperson contesting the Mumbadevi seat on a ticket of the Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena.

Sawant faces an FIR registered by the Mumbai police on Shaina’s complaint, following which he expressed an apology, saying that his comments were “misrepresented”.

While canvassing for Patel in Mumbadevi recently, Sawant had targeted Shaina by purportedly saying that “imported maal nahi chalega, original maal chalega”. Shaina has since also flagged the “insensitive” comments made by Sena (UBT) MLA Sunil Raut against another Shinde Sena woman leader.

Patel says he is aware that the contest against Shaina, a resident of Malabar Hill, is a “high-profile” one, but he wants to “keep it simple by bringing the focus back on my works in the constituency”.

Contesting as a Congress candidate, Patel won against the then undivided Shiv Sena’s Anil Padwal in 2009 by over 17,000 votes and against the BJP’s Atul Shah in 2014 by over 9,000 votes, when the grand old party could win only five seats in Mumbai.

In 2019, Patel clinched the seat by his highest victory margin so far, 23,655 votes, against the Sena’s Pandurang Sakpal. In the recent Lok Sabha elections, Sawant took a lead of over 40,000 votes from the Mumbadevi segment.

Shaina’s campaign seems to be banking on the “anti-incumbency sentiment” against the Congress legislator. Patel has however claimed that he is not facing any anti-incumbency because of his “consistent performance”.

The constituency has a population of 2.41 lakh, with Muslims accounting for its 50.9 per cent.

“One of the main issues in Mumbadevi has been redevelopment since most of the buildings are very old. I have pushed for cluster redevelopment to ensure that there are amenities given to the residents which may not be possible if each building is individually redeveloped,” Patel says. “The SBUT (Saifee Burhani Upliftment Project) cluster redevelopment is operational. The Kamathipura redevelopment project too is an important task. Its tender documents are ready and we will go ahead with other formalities, immediately after the elections.”

The Congress veteran says he has worked on education by opening the English BMC schools and five study centres for students.

“I know that despite being elected thrice, there is much to do as it is a constant work in progress. My plan for next term is to have a skill development centre in the area. Usually, such centres have classes for the youth to learn plumbing, electrical work. I want to expand that to teach them robotics, train them in AI, so that they get jobs in the future,” Patel says.

Shaina says her strength is her “honesty and humility”. “I believe people would connect with me, regardless of who my opponent is. I am genuinely dedicated to serving my constituency and have no intention of aligning with builder lobbies. The ‘N C’ in my name stands for non-corruptible. I prioritise development over vote bank politics and do not engage in appeasement of any specific group, all are equal to me,” she says.

On Sawant’s remarks against her, Shaina says the concerns over the objectification of women must be addressed.

Patel sounds cautiously optimistic that his works would create resonance among his voters. “This constituency needs someone who is available for them at all times. I know the area, its challenges, its people. The same cannot be said of my opponent,” he says.

In his street campaign, most of the announcements made by his camp seem to be aimed at countering the Mahayuti government’s Ladki Bahin Yojana – which gives Rs 1,500 monthly allowance to underprivileged women across the state. The Congress supporters present in the rally concede that this scheme is “popular among women”.

Patel however says: “We (Opposition MVA) have announced guarantees including monthly financial assistance of Rs 3,000 for women. The Mahayuti’s scheme is an election gimmick. They could have implemented it immediately after coming to power but it was only done in the run-up to the Assembly elections.”