Analysts view this as the failure of all political parties in raising any real issues in the city this elections. Goregaon, Mankhurd, Vandre East, Mahim and Malabar Hill are the seats where voters went against this trend.

In the remaining 31 Assembly segments, the majority of voters chose the same party they had voted for in the parliamentary polls. For instance, Congress’ Sanjay Nirupam was elected from Mumbai North Lok Sabha seat earlier this year. Of the six Assembly seats in Mumbai North, the Congress had led in Kandivali East and Malad West, the Sena-BJP in Charkop, Dahisar and Borivli while MNS led in Magathane seat. In the Assembly polls, the same parties won the respective segments where they had led, a pattern that has been repeated in most other seats in Mumbai.

Surendra Jondhale, head of department of civics and politics at University of Mumbai, said this shows voters were not impressed by issues raised by the political parties and have chosen to vote for their preferred party.

“The voter cannot get influenced easily unless there is an attractive alternative. This could be a radical policy or an issue raised by a political party or a charismatic candidate who is able to draw voters. In seats where none of these elements are present, voters stick to their usual choice,” said Jondhale.

The importance of fielding the right candidate was evident in Vandre East and Malabar Hill.

While BJP’s Mahesh Jethmalani, who was an outsider to the constituency, had managed to get barely 16,000 votes here during the Lok Sabha elections, in the Assembly polls Sena’s Bala Sawant had a sweeping victory with almost three times more votes in his kitty in Vandre East.

Similarly Mangal Prabhat Lodha got 24,000 more votes than the Congress candidate in Malabar Hill this time in stark contrast to the Lok Sabha elections where Congress candidate Milind Deora was ahead of Sena-BJP’s Mohan Rawale by 22,000 votes in this particular segment.

The imprudent choice of candidate went against the Sena in its bastion in Mahim. During the Lok Sabha polls, the Sena candidate was ahead by 10,000 votes here while MNS had come third. The equations changed this time when Sena made a last-minute decision to give the ticket to TV actor and political novice Adesh Bandekar instead of veteran politician Sada Sarvankar.