In Dadar-Shivaji Park, the birthplace of the Shiv Sena and its strongest bastion, also home to its headquarters, loyal Shiv Sainiks wore a shocked, sombre look on Thursday. The MNS’s Nitin Sardesai had tamed the tiger in its den, defeating both a Sena candidate and a veteran Sena MLA-turned-Congress candidate.

Not only did Sardesai trump TV actor Adesh Bandekar of the Shiv Sena and hugely popular legislator Sada Sarvankar who’d switched to the Congress after being denied a ticket to contest from the Mahim Assembly constituency, he did so with an impressive margin. Sardesai dented the Sena’s voteshare heavily, winning by a 12,000-plus margin with his 48,723 votes.

That the new Sena had made its mark was clear in the constituency, even while it was business as usual in Dadar: right from the flower market through the crowded shopping hub around Sena Bhavan all the way up to Shivaji Park, old Sena loyalists were a nostalgic lot, while the youngsters’ choice had just been simplified.

Outside the counting centre at Dr Antonio Dasilva School, MNS supporters fanned out with flags and posters bearing party president Raj Thackeray’s face, loud cheers going up at announcements after every round. A Raj lookalike wearing a saffron tilak and identical spectacle frames was leading the crowd. “It is by God’s grace that I resemble Raj Thackeray, but no one can copy him. He is our hero,” said Vinod Keruskar, a MNS supporter.

While the MNS’s tricolour flags multiplied fast in the lane outside the school, the crowd of Shiv Sena supporters thinned after every announcement.

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