“Pari-War”- Battle Heats Up In Mumbai Mahim Constituency As Uddhav Thackeray Fields Candidate Against Raj Thackeray’s Son for Maharastra Polls

Mumbai: In a new turn of events, the battle in the Mahim assembly seat has heated up after former Maharastra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday has announced to field candidate against Raj Thackeray’s Son, Amit Thackeray, in the impending Assembly Elections

Amit Thackeray, son of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) president Raj Thackeray, is set to make his electoral debut from the Mahim assembly seat in central Mumbai. His name was among the 45 candidates announced by the MNS for the upcoming Maharashtra elections. On the other hand Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s faction of Shiv Sena has already announced Sada Sarvankar as their candidate for Mahim seat.

However, Amit is expected to face stiff competition from the Shiv Sena (UBT) in this crucial Dadar-Mahim region, which has long been a Shiv Sena stronghold with a loyal voter base. Mahesh Sawant will be the candidate from Shiv Sena(UBT) for the Mahim constituency. That essentially makes the battle a personal showdown within the Thackeray dynasty.

In 2019, Raj Thackeray did not field a candidate from Worli seat from where his nephew Aaditya Thackeray had made his electoral debut. But Uddhav Thackeray in the 2024 battle, two years since the toppling of his government has decided to fight as many seats as possible where their loyal vote base is secured, even at the cost of challenging his Nephew Amit Thackeray, claimed Shiv Sena (UBT) insiders. Similarly in contrast of the 2019 gesture, MNS too has decided to challenge Aaditya Thackeray and fielded Sandeep Deshpande in Worli constituency.

In the 2019 elections, Shiv Sena's Sada Sarvankar won the Mahim seat with 61,337 votes. His name has once again been included in the list of 45 candidates announced by the Shinde faction for the upcoming elections.

"It's an important constituency for Shiv Sena, and it is impossible for Shiv Sena to not give a candidate from Mahim”, said Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut. He also pointed out that the MNS too has put forth a candidate in Worli challenging Aaditya Thackeray and added, "In a democracy, everyone has the right to run for elections." Mahim is a mix of cosmopolitan population including a substantial minority vote share. The headquarters of the Shiv Sena — now with the Uddhav Thackeray-led faction — is located in Mahim.

While there had been speculation about Mahayuti alliance might extending their support to Raj Thackeray in the upcoming assembly polls following his unconditional backing of the NDA government but announcement of the candidatures indicate the greater possibility of Raj Thackeray's MNS party going solo in the upcoming polls. MNS has released its first list of 45 candidates for the November 20 polls. Sixteen of these seats are in Mumbai.​