Last week, when 45-year-old Pratap Sarnaik came to file his nomination for the Ovla-Majiwada constituency, people looked at him in awe as he stepped down from an autorickshaw. Instead of travelling in his Toyota Innova, he chose to ride an autorickshaw to the municipal ward office. “I was not in the passenger seat. I was riding the three-wheeler,” said Sarnaik beaming with pride. 

Sarnaik, a Sena candidate, has declared assets worth Rs 16 crore. He said he was an autorickshaw driver in the past. “Since I was an autorickshaw driver earlier, what could be the best way to file the nomination than riding an auto to the office,” he added.

Hailing from Dombivli, Sarnaik said that he had driven autorickshaw for a living from 1984 to 1989. Sarnaik’s journey from an auto rickshaw driver to a builder, developer and a politician in two decades is indeed remarkable.

Sarnaik is not alone in this category, others who had a modest background and had been auto rickshaw drivers are MLA Eknath Shinde from the Sena who is contesting from Kopri-Panchpakadi and Sudhakar Chavan from the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). 

Sarnaik has not always been a Shiv Sainik. Till last year he was with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and was considered a close aide of Jitendra Awhad, NCP leader from Thane. He fell out with his mentor Awhad after the latter made the appointment of a party office bearer in his locality without consulting him. Chavan is an Independent corporator from Thane who had associated himself with the Shiv Sena and was aspiring to contest on a Sena ticket from Ovla-Majiwada. He is now contesting on MNS ticket.