The chessboard for Maharashtra Assembly elections has been laid. The main contest is between the BJP-led NDA (Mahayuti) and the Congress-led India Alliance (Maha Vikas Aghadi), but there is also a real vs fake contest. In the political equation of Maharashtra, Shiv Sena and NCP got divided into two factions. One faction of Shiv Sena is headed by Eknath Shinde and the reins of the other are in the hands of Uddhav Thackeray. In this way NCP is also divided between Ajit Pawar and Sharad Pawar. In this way, there is fake Shiv Sena and fake NCP versus real Shiv Sena and real NCP.
Shinde’s Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar’s NCP are in alliance with the BJP, while Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT) and Sharad Pawar’s NCP(S) are in alliance with the Congress. With the end of nominations, the political picture of Maharashtra has become clear. There is a fight between Shiv Sena and Shiv Sena on 47 assembly seats in the state and NCP and NCP on 36 seats. Both the camps have put their full strength on these seats and power will also be decided from these seats only?
Shiv Sena vs Shiv Sena fight
Out of the total 288 assembly seats in Maharashtra, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena is contesting on 82 seats under the NDA alliance. Of these, on 47 seats Shiv Sena is fighting with the candidates of Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT) and on the remaining 35 seats, Shinde’s candidates have to fight the election battle with Congress and Sharad Pawar’s NCP. Of the 47 seats in which Shiv Sena vs Shiv Sena contest, 16 seats are from Mumbai region and 18 seats are from Konkan region. Apart from this, there is a fight between Shiv Sena and Shiv Sena on 7 seats in Marathwada region and the remaining seats are in Vidarbha, West and North Maharashtra.
Second election after Shiv Sena split
This is the second election after the split in Shiv Sena, when Shiv Sena will contest against a Shiv Sena candidate. In the Lok Sabha elections, Shinde’s Shiv Sena contested against Uddhav’s candidate on three seats of Mumbai – Mumbai South, Mumbai South Central and North West and could win only one seat. In this way, there is competition between Shinde’s Shiv Sena and Shiv Sena (UBT) on 47 seats in the Assembly, including 10 seats in Mumbai, two in Pune and three in Kalyan. There are also high profile seats like Kopri-Pachpakhadi and Worli. In Worli, Milind Deora is contesting against Aditya Thackeray, while in CM Shinde’s Kopri-Pachpakhadi seat, Shiv Sena’s UBT has fielded Kedar Dighe, nephew of his guru Anand Dighe.
There will be tough competition on every seat
Assembly constituencies like Byculla, Mahim, Jogeshwari East, Magathane, Kurla, Vikhroli, Dindoshi, Chembur, Andheri East, Bhandup, Shivri, Ambernath, Kalyan West, Bhiwandi Rural, Kalyan Rural and Ovala-Majivada are in the contest between Shiv Sena vs Shiv Sena (UBT). There are seats. Thus, the assembly elections are expected to be a decisive battle, a battle for survival and a battle to decide who is the real Shiv Sena. It is believed that there will be tough competition on every seat and then it will be truly decided who is the real army.
NCP vs NCP fight
Like Shiv Sena vs Shiv Sena, in NCP there is a real vs fake NCP fight between Ajit Pawar’s NCP and Sharad Pawar’s NCP. The contest for about 36 assembly seats in the state is between the lieutenants of Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar. Ajit Pawar’s NCP is contesting on 52 seats in the state, out of which its candidates have to fight with Sharad Pawar’s NCP candidates on 36 seats. While Ajit Pawar has again given tickets to his 35 existing MLAs, Sharad Pawar has also fielded all the 15 MLAs who were standing with him.
It is not easy to compete with uncle
The political center of the fight between NCP vs NCP(S) is Baramati, where Sharad Pawar has fielded his nephew Yogendra Pawar against Ajit Pawar. Similarly, in most of the seats in Western Maharashtra, Ajit Pawar’s candidates are facing face to face with Sharad Pawar’s NCP candidates. Even in the Lok Sabha elections, not only in Baramati but also in most of the seats in Western Maharashtra region, Ajit Pawar’s NCP candidates had to compete with Sharad Pawar’s NCP candidates. Sharad Pawar had the upper hand in this fight. Ajit Pawar could win only one seat and Sharad Pawar had won seven seats. In such a situation, it is not easy for Ajit Pawar to compete with his uncle’s commanders.
Fighting in different areas of Maharashtra
Different political contests seem to be taking place in different areas of Maharashtra. There has been a fight between BJP versus Shiv Sena (UBT) in three areas of the state. There is a fight between Shiv Sena and Shiv Sena in Thane-Konkan belt, while in Mumbai and Marathwada, BJP is fighting with Uddhav’s Shiv Sena. In Vidarbha and North Maharashtra it is a fight of BJP vs Congress and in Western Maharashtra it is a fight of BJP and Ajit Pawar’s NCP vs Sharad Pawar NCP. In such a situation, in the seats of Maharashtra where the contest is between Shiv Sena versus Shiv Sena and NCP versus NCP, the one who will have the upper hand will emerge as the king?
