Legislative Assembly · District of Ashwood
Hitendra Joshi
Last verified 29 Sept 2026
Seat context — Ashwood›
Ashwood is a Legislative Assembly district in Melbourne's south-eastern suburbs, created in the 2021 electoral redistribution and first contested at the 2022 state election; it covers Ashburton, Ashwood, Chadstone, Glen Iris and Mount Waverley plus parts of Burwood, Burwood East and Camberwell. It combines territory from the abolished districts of Burwood and Mount Waverley. At its first contest in 2022, sitting Mount Waverley MP Matt Fregon (Labor) won the new seat with 56.15% of the two-candidate-preferred vote against the Liberal candidate, a margin of roughly 6.2 points.
Background
Platform
Where they stand, issue by issue — grounded in 2026 Victorian polling, not assumed. Every position is tagged with how we know it.
Early conversations with residents, he says, highlighted four issues: cost of living, community safety, traffic and congestion, and protecting trees, parks and green space.
What Victorians say matters most
5 poll-led issuesCost of living and crime have ranked 1st or 2nd in every Victorian poll since mid‑2025, with debt and housing close behind — see schema §3 for the polling this grouping is based on (DemosAU, Ipsos Issues Monitor, Roy Morgan). The 0-10 'priorityScore' on each candidate's issue entries is NOT a measure of true importance or an independent ranking of what a candidate actually cares about. It reflects how much detail and specificity exists in what that candidate has actually said publicly on that issue -- a named policy mechanism and a verified voting record score higher than a one-line stated priority, regardless of the issue's real-world weight. Render this distinction in the UI wherever the score appears; do not label it just 'Priority' without the qualifier.
Cost of living
Names cost of living as one of four issues raised by residents, without a stated measure.
Crime and community safety
Names community safety as one of four issues raised by residents, without a stated measure.
Housing affordability and supply
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
State government debt and fiscal management
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
Infrastructure and public transport delivery
Names traffic and congestion as a key issue; his background is 27 years in engineering and infrastructure leadership.
Also on the record
6 substance issuesThese don't top “biggest issue” polling, but carry real 2026 policy weight and genuine differences between parties.
Education and training
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
Health and healthcare access
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
Urban planning and housing density
Names protecting trees, parks and green space as a key issue, without a stated measure.
Climate and energy transition
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
Treaty and First Nations affairs
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
Regional and rural Victoria
Not detailed in sources reviewed.
Local & party context
2 fieldsNot scored the way the eleven issues above are — these are fixed facts about the seat and the party, not positions with more or less emphasis behind them.
Independent, with no current or past party affiliation, per the reported candidate information; no party platform applies.
The Tally Room lists him as an independent candidate for Ashwood with no party label. RReported — TALLY-ASHWOOD26The Tally Room, "Ashwood – Victoria 2026"View source
Track record & prior candidacies
No candidate named Hitendra Joshi appears in the 2022 Ashwood results, or among the 2024 Monash council candidates checked. VVerified — WIKI-ASHWOOD-RESULTS, TALLY-MONASH24Wikipedia, "Electoral results for the district of Ashwood"View sourceThe Tally Room, "Monash council election, 2024"View source
His candidate information does not mention any earlier campaign, so this appears to be his first.
Campaign, money & endorsements
Campaign logistics
Endorsements & Donations
Endorsed by Voices of Ashwood, a grassroots community group of residents from Ashburton, Mount Waverley, Glen Iris, Chadstone, Ashwood and surrounding suburbs that formed to back a local independent. RReported — EM-VIC26The Eastern Melburnian, "Victorian Election 2026: Eastern Melbourne Candidates"View source
The group's own site says it received expressions of interest from local people and is backing a genuinely local, community-minded independent candidate. SSelf-stated — VOA-HOMEVoices of Ashwood, "Voices of Ashwood – Your voice matters"View source
Per the Victorian Electoral Commission's funding guidance (vec.vic.gov.au, accessed 2026-09-29 via search snippets of its independent-candidate and registered-party funding pages), a candidate is eligible for public election funding if they receive at least 4% of first-preference votes in their contest, or are elected. Funding is reimbursed against an audited statement of campaign expenditure, and advance funding must be repaid in full if the threshold is missed.
Joshi is running as an independent and has not previously contested an election, so he has no funding entitlement from an earlier contest. As an independent he would have to reach 4% himself; there is no party payee.