2024 Lok Sabha polls: Shiv Sena (UBT) releases first list
The Shiv Sena (UBT) on Wednesday released its first list of 16 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The first list features two former Union Ministers Anant Geete and Arvind Sawant, who are set to contest from Raigad and South Mumbai constituencies respectively. Other prominent names include Rajan Vichare from Thane, Amol Kirtikar from Mumbai North-West, and Sanjay Patil from Mumbai North-East.
Why does this story matter?
The 48 Lok Sabha seats of Maharashtra will go to polls in five stages starting from April 19. According to the seat-sharing allocation of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies in Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena (UBT) will contest 20 Lok Sabha seats, while the Congress will compete for 18. The Sharad Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) will nominate candidates for the remaining 10 seats. Notably, Maharashtra has the second highest parliamentary seats after Uttar Pradesh (80).
Party loyalists retain candidacy following split
In the aftermath of the party's 2022 split, the Shiv Sena (UBT) has renominated all five sitting MPs, who remained loyal to party chief Uddhav Thackeray. Notably, of the 16, 11 names were already announced by Thackeray last month. To recall, the Congress has already announced its candidates for certain seats where there is no conflict with its alliance partners. In contrast, the other MVA member NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) has yet to officially reveal its candidates for the elections.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut's post on candidates list
Maharashtra's 2019 seat tally
In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, the Bharatiya Janata Party, which was then in alliance with the undivided Shiv Sena, contested 25 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra. It won 23 of them. Thackeray's Shiv Sena, on the other hand, won 18 of the 23 seats it contested. Meanwhile, the undivided NCP won four, while the Congress and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) won a seat each. An independent candidate also won one seat.
