Mumbai North Central voters treated me as family, hope to continue the relationship: Poonam Mahajan

Mumbai: Mumbai North Central MP Poonam Mahajan, who has been denied renomination by the BJP this time, has said people from the constituency treated her like a family for 10 years and she hopes the relationship would always continue.

In a post on X on Saturday, Mahajan, who has been replaced by prominent lawyer Ujjwal Nikam, also thanked the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for giving her an opportunity to serve the people of Mumbai North Central constituency for 10 years.

"I wish to continue on the path of 'nation first' shown by my late father Pramod Mahajan. I hope to walk on that path always," she said.

The BJP on Saturday denied ticket to Mahajan and instead picked Nikam, who was the special public prosecutor in Mumbai terror attack and 1993 serial blasts cases, as its nominee from the Mumbai North Central seat.

Nikam is pitted against Congress leader Varsha Gaikwad.

In the post on X, Mahajan said, "I will be indebted to the family-like people from Mumbai North Central who treated me not just as an MP but gave me affection like a daughter." Mahajan said she will dedicate each and every moment of her life to the service of the nation.

The BJP has this time dropped all its three sitting MPs in Mumbai.

It has replaced Gopal Shetty with Piyush Goyal in Mumbai North seat and Manoj Kotak with Mihir Kotecha in Mumbai North East constituency.

In 2019, the BJP and its then ally Shiv Sena (undivided) won three seats each out of the total six in Mumbai.

The Sena had won Mumbai South, Mumbai South Central and Mumbai North West.

After a split in the party, Mumbai South Central MP Rahul Shewale and Mumbai North West parliamentarian Gajanan Kirtikar switched over to the Shiv Sena led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

Only Shewale had been renominated by the Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the Uddhav Thackeray-headed Shiv Sena (UBT) has renominated Arvind Sawant from Mumbai South.

The ruling BJP-Shiv Sena alliance in the state is yet to announce its candidates for the Mumbai South and Mumbai North West seats.

The opposition Congress is yet to announce its candidate in the Mumbai North seat.

Polling in all the six Lok Sabha constituencies in Mumbai will be held on May 20.