Captains of industry, including bigwigs from the house of Tatas, Ambanis, and Birlas, joined fellow citizens in the financial capital to vote on Monday in the fifth phase of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.
The half a dozen Lok Sabha seats in Mumbai were among 13 constituencies that voted in the fifth and last phase of elections in Maharashtra.
Development, good governance, and the need to accelerate economic growth were key issues influencing business leaders' voting choices while exercising their constitutional rights at polling booths in the metropolis.
Some, like finance industry veteran Deepak Parekh, also spoke about the challenges like the long wait times faced by people at booths, pointing out that the delay in sweltering heat may dissuade voters from stepping out of their homes and casting their ballot.
Voting centers in tony neighborhoods of south Mumbai started witnessing queues from very early in the morning, with Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran among the first India Inc leaders to exercise their franchise.
Polling across the Lok Sabha seats in Mumbai started at 7 am.
RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das voted with family members at a school near his official residence in south Mumbai, while the richest Indian Mukesh Ambani, who resides a few blocks away, turned up at the same school later in the evening with his wife Nita and son Akash in tow.
Noted industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla ecstatically told reporters that his 19-year-old younger daughter Advaitesha also cast the vote for the first time along with him and her elder sister Ananya.
With Mumbai known for voter apathy, many industry leaders appealed to electors to come out in large numbers and exercise their franchise to choose their Lok Sabha representatives.
Billionaire founder of the online beauty portal Nykaa, Falguni Nayar, termed polling both as a right as well an obligation and listed out a slew of factors which influenced her vote.
"The issues have more to do with what I call quality of living, healthier life, better quality water, better quality health facilities, better quality transportation services, better quality air that we breathe in because all of that is also taking away a lot from us. So, I would urge the new government to focus on that," she told PTI.
Ananya Birla, who runs one of the country's biggest microlenders, said the candidates' educational qualifications, economic policies, and records influenced her voting choice.
However, it was factors like a stable government, development, and accelerating economic growth -- unsurprising given the entrepreneurial outlook of this subset of the population -- that had the deepest resonance when it comes to elements influencing voting decisions for industry leaders.
Asked about the factors that influenced him before casting the ballot, Mahindra Group chairman Anand Mahindra termed "governance and its outcomes" as the "primary issue" and added that the results of these actions improve the quality of life for everybody.
Banker Parekh echoed the same, saying he thought about the stability of the new government and the need for good leadership at the Centre while voting.
"We need stability, we need good leadership at the Centre which we have been having for the last ten years. So, we hope that whichever party is elected, there is stability," he said.
The veteran banker said there was a need to grow rapidly from now on, adding "India's growth needs to be at a pace which is twice that of the world".
Industrialist Niraj Bajaj spoke about the need to emancipate the poor as a key aspect for policymaking and in a very candid admission, added that measures for industry or for those who are doing good in life do not matter.
"What is important is what is good for India, for the poor of India personal good is not so important at this moment. What is important is what it's important for the country," he added.
Industrialist Anil Ambani, who is facing a slew of challenges on the business front, also cast his vote very early into the voting day.
Even as there were some voices flagging concerns around time taken and the queues, Das, a career bureaucrat-turned-central banker, spoke about the logistics involved in the exercise, and thanked the polling officials for their work in ensuring a successful election.
Nayar said voter awareness is very high, but there seems to be a tendency of being motivated by the outcome which should not be the only guiding factor.
"What I understand is that people want to vote where they think they can make a difference. But I think it is also important if you think it won't change the outcome," she said.
