File photo of BJP leader Poonam Mahajan
The Mumbai north-central seat that includes areas such as the posh suburbs of Bandra is going to witness a battle of daughters in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.
The Congress is fielding sitting MP Priya Dutt, daughter of late Congress leader and filmstar Sunil Dutt. The BJP's candidate is Poonam Mahajan, daughter of late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan.
Fielding the daughters of the two late leaders against each other makes for one of the most interesting electoral battles in Mumbai. NDTV spoke to both the candidates. While Priya Dutt is confident of retaining her seat, Poonam Mahajan is hoping that the Modi wave and her father's roots in the area will help her gain votes.
Priya Dutt told NDTV, "For me my father's presence is always there...I am confident about my work and I have never in any past election calculated what the chances are, how good or how bad they are. My effort has always been to reach out to the people."
Priya Dutt, a two-term MP might be hoping that the large slum population in her constituency would help re-elect her especially after the Maharashtra's government's pre-election decision to regularize illegal slums built till 2000 and to give the shanties transfer rights.
But while she denies such calculations, her detractors argue, she has done little to reduce the disparity of living standards in a constituency which is home to Bollywood super stars and also the poorest of poor.
NDTV visited a slum area in her constituency and the response was mixed. A young voter told NDTV, "Priya Dutt, who has been our MP for five years, has never been seen here." But some others said, "We are very happy with our MP Priya Dutt. She has built toilets for the poor and organised medical assistance."
Superstars and film personalities have also often spoken in support of Mrs Dutt, but that does not worry her opponent who hopes to make in-roads.
Poonam Mahajan says, "Stars and Bollywood, everybody loves it. Standing next to one leader of BJP and talking about a Leader of the Congress shows you there is a lot of floating voters and that is a huge number in the country."
Ms Mahajan, who is much younger makes her Lok Sabha debut in a tough seat where Priya Dutt still enjoys the good will her father had earned. But a confident Poonam Mahajan told NDTV, "It's not a battle of two daughters or two friends or two women. It's battle of Congress and BJP. You have seen for the past ten years what Congress has done and people are understanding that. It's a battle where the constituency is given to one family for so long and still there is no development in the constituency."