Political parties have begun presenting their lists of candidates for the Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2024, which are less than a month away. The state elections would be the second straight battle between Mahayuti and Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) following the Lok Sabha elections that took place earlier this year. While the MVA is currently finalising the names, the Mahayuti has already revealed its initial list of candidates.
The BJP, the Shiv Sena, led by Eknath Shinde, and the NCP, led by Ajit Pawar, make up the ruling Mahayuti. All three parties have unveiled their initial lists of candidates, with CM Eknath Shinde being renominated from Kopri and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar being renominated from their respective home seats of Nagpur and Baramati.
With so many parties battling and Shiv Sena & NCP split, this is Maharashtra's first assembly election. Maharashtra voters now have six main parties to vote for.
Since CM Eknath Shinde is the current MLA and was renominated from Kopri-Pachpakhadi (147), it would rank highest among Maharashtra's important constituencies. Shinde's hometown and political stronghold, Thane City, is where the Kopri constituency is located. Since 2009, Shinde has served as Kopri's MLA. He served as the Thane constituency's MLA from 2004 until 2009.
Conflicts between Shiv Sena groups have put the constituency in the spotlight this election. Kopri-Pachpakhadi is located in Thane city, which is largely regarded as a Shiv Sena stronghold with a sizable Maharashtrian population. In the Lok Sabha 2024 elections, Eknath Shinde's right-hand Naresh Mhaske defeated Shiv Sena (UBT) incumbent Rajan Vichare to become the incumbent MP for the Thane Lok Sabha constituency.
Both Shiv Sena (UBT) and Shiv Sena (Shinde) factions will view the Kopri constituency as a prestige issue for the assembly elections. The Sena UBT may put forward a candidate to compete against Eknath Shinde, even though the party has not yet revealed its candidates. It is unclear, nevertheless, if the MVA gives Congress the seat.
Eknath Shinde has been the incumbent Member of Parliament for the Kopri-Pachpakhadi constituency since 2009. Shinde's stronghold is demonstrated by the fact that he defeated his opponents by a greater margin. Shinde defeated Pandurang Ghadigaonkar, a Congress candidate, by a wide majority of 89,300 votes in 2019. He defeated Sandeep Lele, a BJP candidate, by 51,869 votes in 2014.
One of the six assembly constituencies in the Thane Lok Sabha constituency is Kopri-Pachpakhadi, where Sena UBT's Rajan Vichare lost to Naresh Mhaske, a close aide of Eknath Shinde. Mahayuti's victory was vital because Thane district is the Shinde's stronghold.
Mhaske received 7,34,231 votes from the Thane LS constituency voters, while Vichare received 5,17,220. Vichare received 66,260 votes, while Mhaske received 1,11,135 votes from the Kopri-Pachpakhadi assembly.
There are currently 202 MLAs in Maharashtra's ruling party. The NCP (Ajit Pawar) has 40 seats, the Shiv Sena (Shinde) has 38, the BJP has 102, and other parties have 24.
There are 69 seats with the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA). There are 37 seats for the Congress, 16 for the Shiv Sena (UBT), 12 for the NCP (Sharad Pawar), and six for other parties. There are 15 open seats.
November 20 is the date of the single-phase election for Maharashtra's 288 assembly seats, with the results scheduled to announce on November 23.
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