Nagpur: This assembly poll was a battle of prestige, legacy and credibility for both factions of Shiv Sena, and as results trickled out on Saturday, Eknath Shinde had emerged as the “people’s choice” over Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena UBT.
In a head-to-head battle in 51 constituencies, the scales on Saturday tilted heavily in Shinde Sena’s favour with the incumbent CM’s faction leading on 36 seats. One seat, Sangola, was clinched by Peasants & Workers Party (PWP) with both Senas failing to make a mark there.
The 14 seats on which Sena UBT was leading, was mainly due to the party’s performance in Mumbai. Around six seats, almost 50% of their winning candidates, came from Mumbai.
Vidarbha contributed three to the tally, followed by two from Marathwada and one each from Konkan and western Maharashtra.
Uddhav, while congratulating Mahayuti, expressed concern over the results. “I believe there is something wrong as Maharashtra, which listens to the family head, won’t act like this,” Uddhav posted on X.
This post seemed to indicate that Uddhav found it hard to believe that Sena’s voter chose the Shinde-faction over him.
“I congratulate the winner, but I also hope that all promises made during polls will now be fulfilled,” wrote Uddhav.
For Shinde, the 36-seat victory came mostly from Mumbai + MMR (16), Konkan (6), western Maharashtra (8) and Marathwada (20). The Sena led by Eknath Shinde has won 6 seats in Mumbai city of the 15 it contested. In the wider Mumbai metropolitian region, he has swept 10. Shinde said the victory was of Balasaheb Thackeray’s ideology, thus underlining his claim to being the true ‘heir’ of the united Shiv Sena’s legacy. The chief minister was also unambiguous in attributing the victory to the ‘Ladki Bahin Yojna’. His post on X started with “My dear ladki bahin”.
The Mahayuti tsunami that seemed to have swept Maharashtra, saw Shinde getting mixed results in Vidarbha alone. While his close aide Ashish Jaiswal won from Ramtek, another well-known leader Bhavana Gawli lost from Risod. Gawli, currently a member of the Legislative Assembly, is a former multiple-term member of Parliament who was denied a Lok Sabha ticket earlier this year. On the whole, Shinde’s tally goes up significantly from 40 after the split to 57 seats.
Given the ‘man of action’ image he has cultivated over the past 2.5 years as chief minister, it adds to his considerable clout in state politics.
Nagpur: This assembly poll was a battle of prestige, legacy and credibility for both factions of Shiv Sena, and as results trickled out on Saturday, Eknath Shinde had emerged as the “people’s choice” over Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena UBT.
In a head-to-head battle in 51 constituencies, the scales on Saturday tilted heavily in Shinde Sena’s favour with the incumbent CM’s faction leading on 36 seats. One seat, Sangola, was clinched by Peasants & Workers Party (PWP) with both Senas failing to make a mark there.
The 14 seats on which Sena UBT was leading, was mainly due to the party’s performance in Mumbai. Around six seats, almost 50% of their winning candidates, came from Mumbai.
Vidarbha contributed three to the tally, followed by two from Marathwada and one each from Konkan and western Maharashtra.
Uddhav, while congratulating Mahayuti, expressed concern over the results. “I believe there is something wrong as Maharashtra, which listens to the family head, won’t act like this,” Uddhav posted on X.
This post seemed to indicate that Uddhav found it hard to believe that Sena’s voter chose the Shinde-faction over him.
“I congratulate the winner, but I also hope that all promises made during polls will now be fulfilled,” wrote Uddhav.
For Shinde, the 36-seat victory came mostly from Mumbai + MMR (16), Konkan (6), western Maharashtra (8) and Marathwada (20). The Sena led by Eknath Shinde has won 6 seats in Mumbai city of the 15 it contested. In the wider Mumbai metropolitian region, he has swept 10. Shinde said the victory was of Balasaheb Thackeray’s ideology, thus underlining his claim to being the true ‘heir’ of the united Shiv Sena’s legacy. The chief minister was also unambiguous in attributing the victory to the ‘Ladki Bahin Yojna’. His post on X started with “My dear ladki bahin”.
The Mahayuti tsunami that seemed to have swept Maharashtra, saw Shinde getting mixed results in Vidarbha alone. While his close aide Ashish Jaiswal won from Ramtek, another well-known leader Bhavana Gawli lost from Risod. Gawli, currently a member of the Legislative Assembly, is a former multiple-term member of Parliament who was denied a Lok Sabha ticket earlier this year. On the whole, Shinde’s tally goes up significantly from 40 after the split to 57 seats.
Given the ‘man of action’ image he has cultivated over the past 2.5 years as chief minister, it adds to his considerable clout in state politics.