Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray
Credit: PTI Photos
Mumbai: Three of the six seats in the financial capital of Mumbai will witness a direct fight between the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the Uddhav Thackeray-spearheaded Shiv Sena (UBT) in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Two seats involve fights between BJP and Congress while one is between Shiv Sena (UBT) and BJP.
The three seats involving Shiv Sena and Shiv Sena (UBT) contests are Mumbai South, Mumbai South-Central and Mumbai North-West.
In Mumbai South, two-time sitting Shiv Sena MP and former minister Arvind Sawant, now with Shiv Sena (UBT), will take on Shiv Sena leader Yamini Jadhav, who is an MLA from Byculla. Sawant, who is part of the core team of Thackeray, had resigned as Union Heavy Industries Minister when the Shiv Sena split.
In Mumbai South-Central, two-time sitting Shiv Sena MP Rahul Shewale will take on Anil Desai, a former Rajya Sabha MP, who is one of Thackeray's close aides.
In Mumbai North-West, the Shiv Sena has pitted Ravindra Waikar, an MLA who recently switched sides to Shinde against Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Amol Kirtikar, who is the son of sitting Shiv Sena two-time MP Gajanan Kirtikar, who has opted out because of health issues and also because his son was fielded by the rival party.
The Mumbai North-East seat will witness a fight between Sanjay Dina Patil, a former NCP MP, who has been fielded by Shiv Sena (UBT) against Mihir Kotecha of the BJP, an MLA from Mulund. Patil's father Dina Bama Patil was a former Bhandup MLA.
The Mumbai North-Central seat will witness a fight between Mumbai Congress President Prof Varsha Gaikwad and Ujjwal Nikam, a veteran lawyer who had appeared as a prosecutor in the March 12, 1993, serial blasts case in Mumbai and 26/11 terror attacks in the financial capital. Gaikwad's father, the late Eknath Gaikwad was an MP from Mumbai South-Central and ex-Mumbai Congress President.
In Mumbai North, the Congress fielded Bhushan Patil against BJP’s Piyush Goyal, who is the Union Commerce Minister and is close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Goyal’s parents - late Ved Prakash Goyal was a former Rajya Sabha member and ex-Shipping Minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government, his late mother Chandrakanta Goyal was a former BJP MLA from Matunga.
Mumbai goes to polls in Phase-5 on May 20, the final phase of polling in Maharashtra.
The results of the 2009 elections are totally different from the 2014 and 2019 elections in Mumbai.
In 2009, the Congress won five seats while NCP one - all seats were bagged by the Democratic Front.
In 2014 and 2019, the BJP-Shiv Sena saffron alliance won all the seats— bagging three seats each both times.
However, with the split in Shiv Sena and Sharad Pawar-led NCP, the political dynamics have changed.
The Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi is also fielding candidates in all the six seats while the Asaduddin Owaisi-led AIMIM will also contest a few seats.