MUMBAI, Jan. 7 -- With an electorate of around 2,35,000 voters in its 1.5-million population spread across wards 183 to 189, Dharavi remains one of Mumbai's most politically significant constituencies. Dominating the electoral battle this time is the 40,000-voter-strong ward 185, where all three mainstream parties are locked in a direct contest. According to internal party surveys, the ward's electorate comprises about 26% South Indian voters, 23% Marathi voters, 16% North Indian and Muslim voters, and 15% Gujarati voters. Traditionally a Congress stronghold, ward 185 was wrested by T M Jagdish of the undivided Shiv Sena in the 2017 civic polls, while the BJP has never managed to register a win here. The ward encompasses Kumbharwada, the over-150-year-old potters' colony, where residents are demanding that they be excluded from the Dharavi Redevelopment Project (DRP) and rehabilitated in situ. Latching on to the potters' demand, candidates across party lines have been reassuring them that they will make it happen. On Tuesday, voters were actively courted by all the major parties in the fray. Veteran corporator Ravi Raja, who was the former leader of the opposition in the BMC, was seen going from door to door, greeting residents with a 'Vanakkam' in a predominantly Tamil neighbourhood. A five-time corporator from F North ward in Sion, Raja is not a stranger to Dharavi voters, many of whom are familiar with his name due to his vocal presence in the BMC. The veteran politician said that a delegation from Kumbharwada had met him and spoken about their concern. "The DRP is for slums, but they have big houses and are more concerned with the pottery industry," he said. "I have assured them that we will try to carve out 12.5 acres from the DRP and see how best they can be rehabilitated there." Raja launched an attack on the Congress, Eknath Gaikwad and his daughter Varsha, who have dominated Dharavi politics as MLA and MP. "The Gaikwad family has ruined this area for 52 years," he said, accusing the Congress of blocking the DRP tender between 1999 and 2014 to prevent redevelopment. He said Dharavi's voters would back the BJP and "make history". Despite Raja's claim that the BJP would not "displace even one tenant", scepticism persists among residents, including those promised in-situ rehabilitation. Sheshova Shekhar, who has lived in the Rajiv Gandhi Nagar slum in Kunchikorve for 70 years, said 11 people share a 150-sq-ft tenement. "We will be rehabilitated nearby, but what's the point of giving us one room? Here we can add floors, but we can't do that in a new home," he said. Kumbharwada comprises four wadis, each with around 200 families engaged in pottery. Residents say they paid an annual vacant land tax (VLT) of Rs.5 to the BMC for nearly 50 years, but were verbally informed it had been cancelled after the DRP was announced. Raja said these issues needed resolution. Former Sena (UBT) corporator of ward 185 T M Jagdish said the DRP dominated his Kumbharwada campaign. He said people were told that Adani would not rehabilitate them in Dharavi and added that civic services had suffered as he received no BMC funds for five years. Recalling his tenure, Jagdish said he addressed waterlogging in the Dharavi transit camp by installing drainage lines, desilting them, lighting lanes and building toilets. Congress candidate Kamlesh Chitroda, from the Kumbharwada community, said concerns remained unresolved, particularly whether pottery spaces would be provided under the DRP and whether residents would be rehabilitated in the same area. AAP candidate Paul Rapheal said the DRP was a priority and the party would demand in-situ rehabilitation for all, while also focusing on municipal schools. Congress MP Varsha Gaikwad's husband Raju Godse said objections centred on how the project was pushed through without consulting stakeholders. He said Kumbharwada had four wadis with kilns forming a continuous pottery chain. Godse said Dharavi could not be treated as an ordinary slum, calling it a Rs.100-crore export hub, but said the DRP lacked a policy for commercial structures....