Excitement has increased over the Maharashtra Assembly elections. While efforts are underway to quickly finalize seat-sharing in the coalition, candidates have also begun to be announced. The ruling grand alliance of the Bharatiya Janata Party announced candidates for 99 seats, with the Shiv Sena (Shinde) winning 45 seats and the Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar) winning 38 seats.
Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT), affiliated to Mahavikas Aghadi (MVA), has also announced its candidate list. Uddhav Thackeray’s party has announced its first list of 65 candidates. In this list, Uddhav’s party breaks a tradition in the Thackeray family. Uddhav Thackeray also fielded a candidate against his cousin Raj Thackeray’s son Amit Thackeray.
After announcing Aditya Thackeray’s candidature in the last election, Raj Thackeray showed great courage by not fielding a candidate from Worli seat. Despite all the contradictions, Raj Thackeray gave his unconditional support to Aditya Thackeray. The Thackeray family’s tradition of not fielding candidates against each other in the last elections, started by Raj Thackeray, was broken by Uddhav this time.
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Notably, Amit Thackeray is contesting from Mahim seat in central Mumbai on Maharashtra Navnirman Sena ticket . Shiv Sena (Shinde) has fielded sitting MLA Sada Saravankar as its candidate from this seat. There were speculations that Uddhav Thackeray’s party might not field a candidate against Amit, but that did not happen. The Uddhav-led Shiv Sena (UBT) has given the ticket to Mahesh Sawant.
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Notably, Amit Thackeray’s cousin Aditya Thackeray had contested and won the Worli seat adjacent to Mahim in the 2019 elections. Aditya Thackeray is the first member of the Thackeray family to enter the electoral fray. After Aditya Thackeray, Uddhav Thackeray also actively participated in politics as a member of the Legislative Council. However, Uddhav Thackeray has always maintained a distance from the electoral field. Raj Thackeray also never contested any election.
