MUMBAI: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) president Raj Thackeray’s son Amit, only the second Thackeray to contest an election after his MLA cousin Aaditya, lost the Mahim assembly seat by over 17,000 votes in his electoral debut.
Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Mahesh Sawant won the Mahim constituency by raking in 50,213 votes. Incumbent Shiv Sena MLA Sada Sarvankar received 48,897 votes and Amit came third with 33,062 votes.
Celebrations erupted for Sawant at Shivaji Park, the heart of the undivided Shiv Sena and home to Sena Bhavan – now Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT)’s headquarters.
Sawant, the first ever to defeat a Thackeray, was hoisted onto shoulders of his cadre near the Dadar West counting centre, even as his party faced a setback, losing 65 of the 85 seats it contested.
A short distance away, at the party head office, Sena (UBT) leaders were facing uncertainty about the future. Defending the impact of the results on the Thackeray family’s political legacy, incumbent South Central MP Anil Desai told TOI, “There were multiple factors deciding this election statewide. This includes the drawback of our alliance partners and Ladki Bahin scheme. Sawant was facing two strong opponents in Mahim assembly constituency and won.” Speaking about neighbouring Worli where Aaditya Thackeray won with a low margin, he said, “Aaditya was a star campaigner who had to take care of not only his campaign but also that of other candidates, which impacted the results there.”
MNS workers were taken aback that their party chief’s son lost to a new entrant in the state polls. BJP, which had initially backed Amit, later put all the weight behind Sarvankar when he refused to back down. MNS leader Yashwant Killedar, who was closely involved in Amit’s campaigns, said, “This defeat is the result of Muslim votes for Sena (UBT) and freebies by Sarvankar before elections and the Ladki Bahin scheme. We also suspect EVM tampering. On our part, we reached the doorsteps of our voters.”
When asked what the loss means for Amit’s political future, Killedar said, “This is not the end. He remains a popular leader. As a party, we will decide the further course of action.”
Sanjay Bhagat, Sena (UBT)’s Mahim shakha pramukh, said, “What worked for Sawant was his common man image. The son of a mill worker fought against the son of a party chief. About Sarvankar, people had long-standing issues around redevelopment that were unresolved, and Sawant had strong local connections in the assembly for voters to trust him to resolve them.”
The next challenge, Bhagat said, now for those like him is to hold the party together at the shakha levels as chances of cadres shifting pose a significant threat moving forward.