Thane: With Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2024 around the corner, the poll bugle has sounded across political parties. On Sunday, the BJP became the first major party to declare its candidates. The first list of 99 names includes key leaders like Devendra Fadnavis, Chandrashekhar Bawankule, Ashish Shelar, and many other sitting MLAs. One such sitting MLA renominated is Sanjay Kelkar from Thane constituency. Thane is a key constituency in Maharashtra and is set to witness a fierce battle as it is the home city and political bastion of CM Eknath Shinde.
The ruling Mahayuti, consisting of the BJP, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar-led NCP, will square off with the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), consisting of the Congress, Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena and Sharad Pawar-led NCP. This will be the second such direct contest between Mahayuti and MVA after the Lok Sabha face-off.
Thane- A Key Constituency
This is probably the first assembly election in Maharashtra with so many parties in the fray. After the division in Shiv Sena and NCP, the people of Maharashtra now have six major parties to vote for.
Among the key constituencies in Maharashtra, Thane (148) would be in the top list as it is the home city and political bastion for Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. Shinde was the MLA from Thane from 2004 to 2009 and from 2009 to 2014, Shiv Sena’s Rajan Vichare was the MLA. Notably. Vichare is now member of Shiv Sena (UBT).
The seat however later was given to the ally BJP. From 2014, BJP leader Sanjay Kelkar is the sitting MLA from Thane seat and in the first list of BJP candidates announced for the Maharashtra assembly polls 2024, Kelkar has been renominated from the seat.
It is very likely that Thane will see a fight between BJP and Shiv Sena (UBT). Though Sena UBT have not announced its candidates yet, it is expected the MVA alliance will leave the Thane seat for Uddhav Thackeray's candidate.
Constituency Performance In Lok Sabha 2024
The Thane Lok Sabha constituency consists of six assembly constituencies including Thane city and Navi Mumbai. In Lok Sabha 2024, Eknath Shinde's right hand Naresh Mhaske won the Thane seat, defeating Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and former MP Rajan Vichare. From the Thane assembly constituency, total 2,12,798 people voted of which 1,26,431 votes went to Mhaske. Trailing candidate Vichare got 78,369 votes.
Past Poll Results
In 2019, Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) gave a tough fight to BJP in Thane assembly constituency. MNS candidate Avinash Jadhav got 72,874 votes and BJP’s Sanjay Kelkar got 92,298 votes. Kelkar won with a margin of 19,424 votes. While in 2014, Kelkar won with a margin of 12,588 against Shiv Sena (undivided) leader Ravindra Phatak.
As the MNS is supporting the Mahayuti this election, the political weight with the BJP candidate is more. However, the seat will witness strong contest with the MVA’s Shiv Sena-Uddhav Thackeray.
About Thane Assembly Constituency
The seat is not reserved and is allotted for General Category candidates. The Shiv Sena – BJP alliance have single-handedly led the legislative assembly. However, after the split in Shiv Sena, it will be a prestige fight for the Mahayuti to retain the constituency. Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Rajan Vichare has a strong hold in Thane and could be nominated as for assembly, after losing the Thane LS seat to Shinde Sena’s Naresh Mhaske.
During 2019 assembly elections, the registered voters in Thane were 3,31,231, of which male voters were Male voters were 1,74,847 and female voters were 1,56,384. The voter turnout for this constituency was 53 per cent.
Current situation in Maharashtra Assembly:
Currently, the ruling disposition in Maharashtra has 202 MLAs with it. Out of these, BJP has 102 seats, NCP (Ajit Pawar) has 40, Shiv Sena (Shinde) has 38 and other parties have 24.
The MVA has 69 seats in its kitty, of which, Congress has 37, Shiv Sena (UBT) has 16, NCP (Sharad Pawar) has 12 and other parties have six seats. Fifteen seats are vacant.
The election for the 288 assembly constituencies in Maharashtra will be held in a single phase on November 20 and the results will be declared on November 23.