Mumbai, Jan. 14 -- The BMC's L ward, which comprises 16 electoral wards, the second highest in the city after P ward, stretches from Kalina to Kurla to Chandivali and has a significant population residing in slums. The ward also stands out for its nepotism, with half a dozen candidates coming from political families. The nepo kids here are Amir Khan, son of former Congress minister Arif Naseem Khan, Shaila Lande, wife of Shiv Sena MLA Dilip Lande, Jay Kudalkar, son of Shiv Sena MLA Mangesh Kudalkar, and three members of former NCP minister Nawab Malik-his brother Abdul Rashid (Kaptan) Malik, sister Dr Saeeda Khan and daughter-in-law Bushra Malik. The Shiv Sena (UBT)'s Pravina Morajkar, who is contesting against Jay Kudalkar, questioned the predominance of family members and relatives contesting from the ward. "I wouldn't call this a democracy," she said. "Is there no one else capable enough that so many members of a family have to contest? People should think about this and then vote for the right candidate." Narrating the ground situation in Ward 169, Morajkar criticised her opponent's father, MLA Mangesh Kudalkar, saying he had not done much during his last two terms apart from getting public conveniences repaired and some beautification work. "These issues anyway concern the civic body and not the state," she said. "To make matters worse, the Mother Dairy plot has been allotted to rehouse Dharavikars. Instead of having sports facilities, which are lacking in this area, the amenity plot has been taken up by a certain politician for other purposes." Citizens' issues across the ward predominantly concern sanitation, vehicular congestion, access to potable water, garbage, and slum redevelopment. Linked to the latter is the fact that though the state government has embarked on a slum redevelopment spree, it is marred by aviation-related restrictions, leaving slum dwellers disgruntled. Senior citizen Faiz Ahmed, who has lived in Kurla for three decades, said that not much had changed. "The issues that we continue to face remain the same: sanitation and solid waste collection among others," he said. "In fact, the arterial LBS Road and the Santacruz-Chembur Link Road continue to be a nightmare that no elected representative has bothered to improve. They are only focusing on redevelopment projects even as the roads and pavements remain dug up. During the monsoon, LBS Road in Kurla always gets badly flooded." In Ward 162 (Kurla West), the nomination of Amir Khan, son of former minister Arif Naseem Khan, has led to former corporator Wajid Qureshi switching over to the Shiv Sena and contesting from the seat. As the BJP shared this seat with the Sena, upset BJP workers chose to leave and contest as independents, which may lead to a vote split. The Sena (UBT) has fielded S Annamalai. From electoral ward 165, two two-time corporators are in a contest: Ashraf Azmi of the Congress and Abdul Rashid (Kaptan) Malik representing the NCP. Those involved in the campaigning shared that the competition between the duo was intense and they were leaving no stone unturned to trump their opponent. Sharad Pawar's NCP has also fielded a candidate, Abhijeet Kamble. In fact, of the 11 seats the NCP (SP) is contesting in Mumbai, two are against the Malik clan in L ward. Contesting against Bushra Malik is Ruhi Khanolkar from the NCP (SP), Ranjita Diwekar from BJP and Reshma Momin from the Congress. Dr Saeeda Khan is likely to face a fight from her former rival Anuradha Pednekar, wife of Shiv Sena office-bearer Mahesh Pednekar. Pednekar is contesting on a BJP ticket....