Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who powered his party Shiv Sena’s emphatic performance in the Maharashtra assembly elections, won from his Kopri-Pachpakhadi constituency in Thane with a margin of 1.2 lakh votes.

Shinde, who wields immense clout on his home turf Thane adjoining Mumbai, polled 1,59,060 votes, with a share of 78.4 per cent. His nearest rival Shiv Sena (UBT) nominee Kedar Dighe, the nephew of Shinde’s mentor the late Anand Dighe, bagged 38,343 votes.

In the 2019 assembly elections, Shinde had defeated Congress’ Sanjay Ghadigaonkar by over 89,000 votes.

Shinde had led a rebellion against the then Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray in 2022 to split the Bal Thackeray-founded party and sided with the BJP to become the CM. While the division triggered a bitter feud between the two Sena factions, he eventually got the party’s name and its ‘bow-and-arrow’ symbol.

Across the state, Shinde’s Shiv Sena did spectacularly well. As per the latest figures shared by the Election Commission, Shiv Sena has won 28 and was leading in 29 of the state’s 288 seats. It fielded 81 candidates in the November 20 elections.

By contrast, Uddhav’s Sena (UBT) has won nine seats and was leading in 11 constituencies.