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Voting will be held in a single phase on Wednesday for 288 assembly seats of Maharashtra Assembly. After the split in Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), a total of 158 parties are in the fray. Out of these, 6 big parties are contesting the elections as part of two alliances.
Shiv Sena of Shinde faction and Ajit Pawar’s NCP are part of Mahayuti led by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). While Congress, Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT) and Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) i.e. NCP (SP) are part of Mahavikas Aghadi.
In the last assembly elections, there was an alliance of BJP-Shiv Sena. Then BJP had won 105 seats and Shiv Sena 56 seats. While Congress got 44 and NCP got 54 seats. BJP-Shiv Sena would have easily come to power, but the alliance broke.
After all the political upheaval, Devendra Fadnavis took oath as Chief Minister and Ajit Pawar as Deputy Chief Minister on 23 November 2019, but both had to resign on 26 November before the majority test.
After this, the Maha Vikas Aghadi government of Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress came to power on 28 November. Uddhav Thackeray became the CM of Maharashtra.
About two and a half years later, there was a rebellion in Shiv Sena and a year later in NCP and the two parties split into 4 parties. In the Lok Sabha elections held on this political background, Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray’s parties got an edge.
29% candidates are tainted, 412 have serious cases like murder and rape registered against them According to the Election Commission, a total of 4136 candidates from various parties, including independents, are in the fray. The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has prepared a report after examining the affidavits of 2201 of these candidates.
According to this, about 29 percent i.e. 629 candidates have a criminal image. Out of these, 412 have serious cases registered against them like murder, kidnapping, rape. 50 candidates are accused of crimes against women.
38% candidates are crorepatis, only 204 women out of 2201 According to ADR, 829 or 38% candidates are crorepatis. In the last election, this figure was 32%. They have an average property worth Rs 9.11 crore. While the average property of BJP candidates is around Rs 54 crore. 26 candidates have declared their property as zero.
At the same time, around 31% or 686 candidates have declared their age between 25 to 40 years. 317 (14%) are between 61 to 80 years, while the age of 2 candidates is more than 80 years. Out of these 2201, only 204 are women candidates, which is around 9%.
Talking about the educational qualification of the candidates, 47% have declared themselves between 5th to 12th. 74 candidates have declared themselves as diploma holders, 58 as literate and 10 as illiterate.
A look at the 19 hot seats of the state…
1. Kopri-Pachpakhadi: Battle of real versus fake Shiv Sena
Chief Minister Eknath Shinde is contesting from this seat in Thane district. This district is considered a stronghold of Shiv Sena. Shinde was elected MLA from Thane seat for the first time in 2004. After this, he has been winning the last three elections by getting more than 50% votes from Kopri-Pachpakhadi seat. In the 2019 elections, he got about 1.25 lakh votes, while Sanjay Pandurang of Congress got only 24,197 votes.
However, this time the contest is Shiv Sena versus Shiv Sena. This is the first assembly election after the split in the party. The Uddhav faction has fielded Kedar Dighe, the nephew of his political guru Anand Dighe, against Shinde. Anand was called ‘Thane ka Thackeray’. Even 21 years after his death, he is respected a lot among the Shiv Sainiks of Thane.
The performance of the Shinde faction’s Shiv Sena in the Lok Sabha elections was not satisfactory. The party won only 7 seats, while Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena got 9 seats. After this, it was said that the people of Maharashtra have considered the Uddhav faction as the real Shiv Sena. Now after the assembly elections, it will be completely clear who the common Marathi Manus considers the heir of Balasaheb Thackeray’s Shiv Sena.
2. Nagpur South-West: Devendra is running for MLA for the sixth time
Devendra Fadnavis is in the race to become MLA for the fourth consecutive time and sixth time overall from this seat of Nagpur, the center of Vidarbha and the stronghold of RSS. Before the delimitation in 2008, he has been an MLA from Nagpur West seat twice.
Fadnavis, who became a councillor of Nagpur Municipal Corporation for the first time at the age of just 22 (in 1992), became the mayor of the city in the next term. Two years later, he was elected MLA for the first time from Nagpur West.
Before becoming the Chief Minister of the state in 2014, he had never even been a state minister. Congress has fielded its councillor Praful Gudade against former CM and current Deputy CM Fadnavis. He had lost to Fadnavis in 2014. The special thing is that Praful’s father Vinod Gudade is a former BJP member. He was the one who led BJP to victory in Nagpur for the first time and became the party’s first MLA from the city.
3. Baramati: Yugendra in the role in which Ajit was once
The contest on this seat is even more interesting. Here uncle-nephew are face to face in the battle of NCP versus NCP. This seat has been the stronghold of Sharad Pawar. He was MLA from this seat for 6 consecutive times from 1967 to 1990. Ajit Pawar has won from here 7 times since the by-election in 1991.
The condition of NCP is also similar to that of Shiv Sena. This is the first assembly election of the party after the split. However, Ajit’s NCP suffered more losses in the Lok Sabha than Shinde’s Shiv Sena. The party was able to win only one seat. Sharad Pawar’s NCP won 8 seats.
Once MP, 7 times MLA and 5th time Deputy CM Ajit has a tough challenge. Yugendra Pawar, son of elder brother Srinivas Pawar, is against him from Sharad faction’s NCP. Yugendra is seen with Sharad these days in the same way as Ajit Pawar used to be seen.
Ajit also has a tough challenge because his wife Sunetra and sister Supriya were face to face in the Lok Sabha elections. Then the public had chosen Supriya. Ajit was shocked by this defeat. Later he called it his mistake to field his wife against his sister.
4. Worli: Shiv Sena’s Rajya Sabha MP against sitting MLA Aditya
Uddhav Thackeray’s son Aditya Thackeray is contesting from this seat. Aditya had won from this seat in his first election in 2019. He defeated NCP’s Suresh Mane by about 67 thousand votes and became a cabinet minister in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.
This Mumbai seat has been with Shiv Sena since 1990. Only in 2009, NCP’s Sachin Ahir became MLA from here. Shinde faction’s Shiv Sena has given ticket to Rajya Sabha MP Milind Deora from here. His family was in Congress for about 55 years. Milind left Congress in January this year.
Deora, who was a minister of state in the Manmohan government, has also been the president of Mumbai Congress. He has been a Congress MP twice from Mumbai South Lok Sabha seat. After losing the 2014 and 2019 elections, this seat went to Uddhav faction’s Shiv Sena under the INDI alliance in 2024. Angry with this, Deora left Congress.
5. Bandra East: Triangular contest, Shiv Sena’s rebel also in the contest
Balasaheb Thackeray’s house Matoshree comes in this seat. There was a lot of tension between Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) regarding this seat. The reason was that last time this seat was won by Congress, but in the end the seat came in the account of Shiv Sena (UBT).
Zeeshan Siddiqui, son of veteran Congress leader Baba Siddiqui, won the seat on a Congress ticket. In August 2024, Zeeshan was shown the way out by the Congress on charges of anti-party activities. Earlier, his father Baba Siddiqui had joined the NCP of Ajit faction.
After the murder of Baba Siddiqui, Zeeshan also joined the NCP of Ajit faction and is now contesting from here for the second time. At the same time, Varun Sardesai is contesting from Shiv Sena (UBT). He is Aditya Thackeray’s cousin. Varun has been active in the youth wing of the party since 2018.
Apart from this, Tripti Sawant, wife of Prakash Sawant, who was an MLA of Shiv Sena (undivided) from here in 2009 and 2014, is contesting on a ticket of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). In the by-election held after Prakash’s death in 2015, Trupti became an MLA from Shiv Sena (undivided). Later she joined BJP and contested the 2019 elections as an independent. She was then at third place.
On the other hand, Shiv Sena leader Kunal Sarmalkar, angry at this seat going to NCP in the Mahayuti, is also in the fray as an independent.
6. Mankhurd-Shivajinagar: Malik gets ticket from NCP despite being against BJP
Abu Azmi of Samajwadi Party (SP) is a three-time MLA from this Muslim-dominated seat of Mumbai and is contesting for the fourth time. He has the support of MVA. Azmi has promised that if MVA comes to power, he will get a strict law like anti-terrorism law made against hate speech. He was also a Rajya Sabha MP from 2002 to 2008.
Nawab Malik, who was once his partner in SP, is contesting against him from Ajit faction’s NCP. The matter is interesting because the BJP is against Malik and is supporting Suresh Patil of Shiv Sena.
Actually, Nawab Malik has been under the radar of ED since 2022 in the money laundering case. The investigating agency arrested him in February 2022. Due to this, he also had to resign from the cabinet of the Uddhav government.
After being in jail for about 17 months, he got bail from the Supreme Court in August 2023. The BJP has been vocal in this matter from the beginning. The party has also alleged that Malik has links with Dawood Ibrahim. After a long political drama, Malik filed his nomination in the last minutes on the last day of nomination.
7. Mumbadevi: More than 50% Muslim voters, Congress will benefit
Shaina NC is in constant discussion after the indecent remarks of Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Arvind Sawant from South Mumbai. Shiv Sena has given her ticket from Mumbadevi seat on behalf of Mahayuti. She was in BJP before the announcement of the ticket. She was also the party spokesperson, but after getting the ticket, she resigned from BJP and joined Shiv Sena.
It is being said that Shaina has got the ticket with the consent of the top leadership of BJP-Shiv Sena. Fashion designer Shaina by profession is a famous personality in the glamour world.
At the same time, Congress has made three-time MLA Amin Patel its candidate for the fourth time. He had won the last election by about 58 thousand votes. There are more than 50% Muslim voters on this seat, which will directly benefit Congress.
SP and Asaduddin Owaisi’s party AIMIM have also not fielded their candidate on this seat. Due to this, Shaina is facing a tough challenge.
8. Sakoli: Tough competition between Congress and BJP on Vidarbha seat
There is a tough competition between Congress and BJP every time on this seat of Vidarbha. MLAs from both the parties have been elected here. The last election was won by Nana Patole on a Congress ticket. He is currently the President of Maharashtra Congress.
However, before that BJP has won twice in a row. In 2009, Nana Patole had won on a BJP ticket. After this, while being the leader of the opposition in the assembly, he also led a movement for the OBC class. He also won the Bhandara-Gondia Lok Sabha election in 2014.
He resigned from BJP in December 2017 after a rift with the party. He joined Congress in January 2018 and won the Sakoli seat in the 2019 assembly elections.
At the same time, Avinash Brahmankar is contesting from BJP. There are about 19% SC, 8% ST and 2% Muslims on this seat. In this regard, the position of Congress is considered strong here.
9. Kamathi: BJP state president returns to his seat, ticket was cut in 2019
BJP state president Chandrashekhar Bawankule is contesting from this seat coming in Nagpur Lok Sabha. He was an MLA from this seat three times since 2004. In 2019, his ticket was cut and given to Tekchand Savarkar. Savarkar was able to win this election by a narrow margin.
At the same time, BJP slipped from 44 to 29 in 62 seats of Vidarbha. It was believed that the Teli community was angry with Chandrashekhar’s ticket being cut. He is a big OBC face of the party and comes from the Teli community. In Vidarbha, after the Kunbi community, the Teli community is the second largest section of OBC.
The Kunbi class is considered to be a Congress voter. The Teli community has been with the BJP and RSS, but did not support the BJP in 2019. Congress has expressed confidence in 2019 candidate Suresh Bhoyar this time too. He gave a tough fight to BJP and lost by a margin of about 11 thousand votes.
10. Mahim: Uncle fielded his candidate against nephew
A triangular contest is being seen on this seat of Mumbai. It has been the stronghold of Shiv Sena (undivided) for 30 years. This time there is a fight between three factions of Shiv Sena i.e. Thackeray faction, Shinde faction and Raj Thackeray’s MNS.
Raj Thackeray’s son Amit Thackeray is in the fray from MNS. Earlier BJP had said to support Amit, but later Mumbai BJP President Ashish Shelar said that the party will support MNS only on the Shivadi seat. The party will support Shiv Sena candidate Sada Sarwankar from Mahayuti on the Mahim seat.
Sarwankar has been winning this seat on Shiv Sena (undivided) ticket for two times. After the split in Shiv Sena, Sarwankar supported Shinde. As a reward for this, Shinde has given him a chance for the third time.
However, senior journalist Jitendra Dixit says that Sarwankar was under pressure from both Shinde and BJP to withdraw his name. He had also made up his mind to withdraw his nomination. For this, he wanted to meet Raj Thackeray. Raj refused to meet, so Sarwankar did not withdraw his candidature.
Raj Thackeray got another shock when his cousin Uddhav Thackeray also fielded a candidate against Amit. When Uddhav’s son Aditya contested the 2019 assembly elections for the first time, Raj did not field a candidate citing family reasons.
This is the reason why Raj was hoping that Uddhav would not field a candidate on this seat, but Uddhav gave the ticket to Mahesh Sawant. After this, the road to the assembly seems difficult for Amit. Only if the votes are divided between the two Shiv Senas, Amit Thackeray will be able to win this seat.
Actually, the Mahim seat is very important in the fight between the real and fake Shiv Sena. The reason is that Shiv Sena emerged from the Dadar-Mahim belt and then made its presence felt in the entire state.
11. Anushakti Nagar: Bollywood actress’ husband against MLA’s daughter
Sana Malik, daughter of NCP veteran leader Nawab Malik, is contesting from this Muslim-dominated seat of Mumbai. After Nawab went to jail, she was very active in the area. Even during the Corona period, she came forward to help the common people.
In the last election, NCP (undivided) got only this seat in Mumbai. He was the only Muslim MLA of the party. He benefited from this and was made a cabinet minister in the Uddhav government. Now Sana faces the challenge of handling her father’s legacy.
At the same time, Sharad Pawar’s NCP (SP) has given ticket to Fahad Ahmed. He is the husband of Bollywood actress Swara Bhaskar. Earlier, he was associated with the Samajwadi Party and was the state head of its youth wing.
12. Dindoshi: Marathi Manus Sunil Prabhu against North Indian Sanjay
The contest on this seat is Shiv Sena vs Shiv Sena. Sanjay Nirupam is contesting from Shinde faction’s Shiv Sena. Sanjay, a veteran Congress leader from Mumbai, joined Shiv Sena before the Lok Sabha elections.
He started his political career with Shiv Sena. Sanjay belongs to Rohtas in Bihar. He was a journalist by profession and joined the party in 1993 as the editor of Shiv Sena’s Hindi mouthpiece Dopahar Ka Saamna.
He was made a Rajya Sabha MP for the first time in 1996. Sanjay was the prominent face of North Indians in the party. After a rift with Shiv Sena in 2005, he joined the Congress and remained with it till 2024.
Sanjay is pitted against Shiv Sena (undivided) MLA Sunil Prabhu for the last two times. He is contesting on a Shiv Sena (UBT) ticket. Sunil has been a councilor of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) four times. He has also been the Mayor of Mumbai. To woo Muslim voters, both the candidates have printed posters in Urdu.
13. Yeola: Bhujbal was the first MLA of Shiv Sena, in NCP for 3 decades
This seat of Nashik has been occupied by NCP veteran Chhagan Bhujbal for the last 20 years. After the split in the party, Bhujbal is in Ajit faction’s NCP and is in the fray for victory for the 5th time.
However, he started his career with Shiv Sena. He became a BMC councilor from Shiv Sena for the first time in the year 1972. After this, he was the mayor of Mumbai twice. He became the first MLA of Shiv Sena in the year 1985. Bhujbal was elected from Mazgaon seat. However, the party made him contest the election as an independent.
After a rift with the party, Bhujbal joined Sharad Pawar’s Congress in 1991. Since then he is with NCP. Veteran OBC leader Bhujbal has also been Deputy CM twice.
On the other hand, NCP (SP) has given ticket to Manikrao Shinde. It was Manikrao who convinced Bhujbal to contest from this seat in 2004. Manikrao also played an important role in his victory. Later, the relationship between the two deteriorated. Manikrao had lost the election against Bhujbal on behalf of Shiv Sena (undivided) in 2009.
14. Karad South: Elderly Chavan faces Atul who is half his age
Former CM Prithviraj Chavan is contesting from this seat. The veteran Congress leader has been an MLA from this seat for two terms. His parents were also senior Congress leaders. Chavan’s father Anandrao Chavan was an MP from Karad Lok Sabha from 1957 to 1971. He was also a part of the cabinet of Jawaharlal Nehru, Lal Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi.
People used to respectfully call his mother Premlata Chavan as ‘Tai’. She was an MP from Karad seat in 1977, 1984 and 1989. She was also the President of Maharashtra Congress. Prithviraj Chavan was working on designing audio recorders for anti-submarine aircraft in the US before returning to India.
He returned to India in 1974 and became an entrepreneur. He entered politics at the behest of Rajiv Gandhi and was an MP from Karad seat in 1991, 1996 and 1998. He became a Rajya Sabha MP in 2002 and 2008. During this time he was a minister in the UPA government. After this, Chavan was the Chief Minister of Maharashtra from 2010 to 2014.
The BJP has fielded Atulbaba Bhosale against him. He has also contested elections against Chavan in 2014 and 2019. The margin of his defeat in 2019 was less than in 2014. He lost by about 16 thousand votes in 2014 and by 9 thousand votes in 2019. This time he is hopeful of winning.
15. Bandra West: Ashish in the fray for the third time, Asif is a three-time councilor
Many Bollywood film stars have bungalows in this high-profile area. Veteran leader Baba Siddiqui has dominated this seat, which has been a stronghold of Congress. He was a Congress MLA for three consecutive terms from 1999 to 2009.
However, he lost to Ashish Shelar of BJP in 2014. Since then, Ashish has been holding this seat and is in the fray for the third time. Ashish has traveled from RSS to the Vidhyarthi Parishad and Yuva Morcha and reached the post of Mumbai BJP President. He was also associated with the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) for a long time. In 2015, he was also elected as the Vice President of MCA.
Congress has fielded three-time councilor Asif Zakaria against him. He also contested from here in 2019. At that time, he had to face defeat by about 26 thousand votes. A large section of Christians, Muslims, Marathas, OBCs and SCs live in this area. Zakaria can benefit from this. However, BJP has an upper hand on this seat.
16. Latur city: Lingayats and Muslims are decisive on this seat of Marathwada
This seat came into existence after delimitation in 2008. Latur assembly seat was divided into two seats, Latur city and Latur rural. Two sons of former Chief Minister and late Congress leader Vilasrao Deshmukh are contesting from these two seats.
Vilasrao was elected MLA from Latur seat five times. His elder son Amit Deshmukh has been winning from Latur city for three times and is contesting for the fourth time. At the same time, younger son Dheeraj Deshmukh is contesting from Latur rural.
Dr. Archana Patil, daughter-in-law of another big Congress leader Shivraj Patil, is contesting from BJP against Amit from Latur city. Shivraj has been the Lok Sabha Speaker. He was the Home Minister of the country during UPA-1. He resigned from the post after the Mumbai attack in 2008. Shivraj has also been an MLA from Latur seat twice.
This seat of Marathwada is dominated by Muslim and Lingayat communities. Here the maximum number of voters are from the Muslim community (about 1 lakh). After this, there are about 85 thousand Lingayat voters. At the same time, there are 65 thousand OBC and 55 thousand Maratha voters.
The BJP candidate is from the Lingayat community. This community is considered to be a BJP voter. The party is also expected to get the support of OBC voters. At the same time, Muslims and Marathas have been supporting the Deshmukh family. In this regard, the contest has become very interesting.
Amit is an MLA for three times, so anti-incumbency is a factor. At the same time, his absence in the city is also a big issue for the common people. Amit’s small mistake can make him lose the election.
17. Latur Rural: NOTA was second in the last election, BJP lost by 1.20 lakh
Dheeraj Deshmukh is contesting on a Congress ticket. He became an MLA for the first time in 2019. Then he defeated Sachin Deshmukh of Shiv Sena (undivided) by about 1.20 lakh votes. Sachin got only 13,524 votes and was at the third position. NOTA was at the second position with about 27 thousand votes.
This time Dheeraj is pitted against Ramesh Karad of BJP. He is an OBC leader but has lost the election from this seat twice. However, in 2014 he lost to Congress candidate Tribankrao Bhise by a narrow margin of about 10 thousand votes.
Dheeraj’s elder brother actor Riteish Deshmukh is campaigning for him. He has been saying in his meetings that Congress is in the blood of Latur. However, what is in Latur’s mind will be clear only after the results are declared on November 23.
18. Kankavli: 42-year-old BJP MLA in the fray for the third time with 38 criminal cases
The name of this area in the Konkan region comes from the Sanskrit word ‘Kankavalli’, which means ‘land of gold’. Nitesh Rane, the younger son of former CM Narayan Rane, is contesting from this seat. BJP has given him a ticket for the second time. However, he is contesting from this seat for the third consecutive time. He was elected MLA on a Congress ticket in 2014.
Nitesh has been in active politics since 2005 and remains in the news for his provocative statements. In the year 2010, he launched a campaign against the private water tanker mafia of Mumbai. Along with this, he also issued a toll-free number for the complaints of common people.
Shiv Sena (UBT) has fielded Sandesh Parkar against him. He has also been in NCP (undivided), Congress and BJP. Sandesh has been an opponent of Narayan Rane. He also contested against then CM Narayan Rane in 1999. However, Sandesh lost. He became the first mayor of Kankavli.
19. Kudal: When former CM’s son left BJP, Shinde gave him ticket
Former CM Narayan Rane’s elder son Nilesh Rane is contesting from this seat on Shiv Sena ticket. He had left BJP a few days ago. His father is a BJP MP from Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg seat. At the same time, younger brother Nitesh has been given ticket by BJP from Kankavali seat. Due to this, Nilesh did not get the ticket, so he joined Shiv Sena.
Nilesh started his political career with Congress in 2009. He was elected MP from Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg seat. However, in 2014, he lost to Vinayak Raut of Shiv Sena. In 2017, his father left Congress and formed a new party named ‘Maharashtra Swabhiman Paksha’.
Nilesh contested the Lok Sabha elections from his father’s party in 2019 but lost again to Vinayak Raut. After this, he joined BJP with his father in October 2019.
Shiv Sena (UBT) has fielded Vaibhav Naik from here. He defeated five-time MLA and former CM Narayan Rane in 2014. Rane was continuously an MLA from this seat since 1990. Vaibhav has been an MLA since then.
