Can Milind defeat Aditya in Worli?
Speculations are strong in Maharashtra political circles about Milind Deora’s candidacy against Uddhav’s son Aditya Thackeray. Rajya Sabha MP Deora is currently affiliated to Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena. Shinde is said to have decided to remove him from the Worli Assembly seat. Shiv Sena from Shinde got Worli seat from NDA.
Aditya defeated Worli in 2019 and became MLA for the first time. During the Shiv Sena split in 2022, Aditya’s voice was louder than Uddhav’s on Eknath Shinde. In this situation, Shinde wants to play a big political gamble and pit Milind against Aditya.
However, questions have also been raised in political circles whether Milind will be able to defeat Aditya or will Aditya be defeated if Milind joins the fight?
Milind and his political career
Milind, the son of senior Congress leader Murli Deora, entered politics in 2004. Congress fielded him from the Mumbai South seat. Milind won the parliamentary seat in 2004 and 2009. In 2011, Milind was appointed minister of state in Manmohan Singh’s government.
Milind also served as president of the Congress Party in Mumbai and is considered to be close to Rahul Gandhi within the Congress party. However, ahead of the 2024 elections, Milind joined the Shiv Sena in the Sindh party. The Shiv Sena sent him to the Rajya Sabha.
Milind Deora’s performance in Worli
Milind Deora contested from Mumbai South Lok Sabha elections in 2009, 2014 and 2019. Worli Assembly seat is in Mumbai South Lok Sabha only. 2009 aside, Milind Deora failed miserably at Mumbai South in both 2014 and 2019.
If we talk about Worli’s performance, Milind got 39,000 votes in 2009, 35,000 votes in 2014 and 41,000 votes in 2019. Except in 2009, in both elections, the Shiv Sena candidate’s vote share was almost double that of Milind.
Milind Deora failed to get votes from Worli seat in the 2024 elections, after which he joined Eknath Shinde’s party. In 2024, Uddhav’s candidate is leading by 7,000 votes in Worli seat. Arvind Sawant is Uddhav’s candidate.
Shiv Sena of Eknath Shinde fielded Yamini Jadhav from south Mumbai.
Caste equation for Warli assembly seat
According to 2019 data, Worli has approximately 207,100 voters. Once, MNS was in a very strong position here, but in 2019, MNS did not field a candidate here as Uddhav’s son entered the fray.
If we talk about caste equality, Worli seat has 11% Dalits and 9% Muslims. Apart from this, 2.7% of Patil, 2% of Jadhav and 2% of Kamble voters belong to this region. All voters in Worli belong to urban communities.
Can Milind defeat Aditya Thackeray?
The discussion among Milind candidates is can Milind Deora defeat Aditya Thackeray from Worli seat? Since 1990, the Shiv Sena has lost its seat only once. In 2009, NCP’s Sachin Ahir defeated Shiv Sena’s Ashish.
In 2019, when Aditya Thackeray contested from the seat, NCP’s Suresh Mane was in front of him. Aditya won the election with 67,000 votes.
Milind, on the other hand, has a poor track record. Milind has failed to win any election since 2014. For Milind, though, there is one comforting thing. First, Milind prepares to counter Shinde’s Shiva Sena. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Shinde’s candidate was trailing by just 6,000 votes in the seat.
Secondly, Uddhav Thackeray fielded the candidate of Raj Thackeray’s son for the Mahim seat. Raj is also said to be able to field a candidate in front of Aditya. If that happens, the race here could be triangular.
