BMC polls: Raj Thackeray most preferred leader

MNS chief Raj Thackeray is Mumbai's most preferred leader according to an IBN Lokmat-GFK Mode opinion poll. He is followed by Uddhav Thackeray, who is a distant second.

The octogenarian Shiv Sena supremo Balasaheb Thackeray made a fervent appeal to his supporters in the quest to salvage the Sena's last bastion. It's the battle for the Brihanmumbai Municpal corporation, the country's richest civic body.

The question is what do Mumbaikars make of the city's political leadership and what has led to the city's decline.

In the IBN Lokmat-GFK Mode opinion poll, 72 per cent Mumbaikars believe that the corruption of its corporators was responsible for the deteriorating state of Mumbai, 49 per cent peg people's lack of involvement as the cause and 11 per cent blame the migrants.

The Thackeray nephew Raj has emerged as the more charismatic of the leaders with 37 per cent of the people polled pitching the MNS chief as the leader with the vision to change the city. Uddhav Thackeray is a distant second with 19 per cent and Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan with his promise to give a makeover to Mumbai comes third with 10 per cent.

While the city's politics has focused on emotive issues like Marathi Manoos and the anti-migrant plank, it's the everyday issues that haunt the city's residents. Eighty per cent said garbage was the biggest crisis closely followed by the condition of roads, traffic congestion and escalating real estate costs.

Illegal construction, public health, education and parking space are some of the major concerns of Mumbai citizens.

While no political party has made corruption its main poll plank, a whopping 70 per cent of those polled said that the Anna Hazare factor will influence their decision while they vote.

But the question remains as to whether Mumbai will vote. The trend so far has shown less than half the city cares enough to come out to the polling booth.