The ruling Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction named Ravindra Waikar as its candidate for the Mumbai North West Lok Sabha seat on Tuesday, April 30, for the Lok Sabha election in Maharashtra. Waikar will be contesting against Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray)'s Amol Kirtikar from the constituency.
After much curiosity surrounding Eknath Shinde's nomination for North West Mumbai, the Shinde group has announced its official candidate. Now, the battle in North West Mumbai will be between Waikar and Kirtikar. Amol Kirtikar, the son of sitting MP Gajanan Kirtikar, has decided to stay with Uddhav Thackeray.
Shiv Sena Announces Ravindra Wairkar as its Candidate from Mumbai North West
An MLA from Jogeshwari in Mumbai, Waikar was a close aide of Uddhav Thackeray, joined the Shinde Sena in March from Shiv Sena UBT. After joining the party, Waiker had said that he joined the Eknath Shinde-led Sena because he intended to work for his constituency and because many people's demands were pending.
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Shiv Sena boasts a significant number of traditional voters in Mumbai's Jogeshwari belt. Waikar, an MLA from Jogeshwari, holds prominence in this area. It's believed that voters in Jogeshwari will wield considerable influence in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
In 2019, the BJP and its then ally Shiv Sena (undivided) won three seats each out of the total six in Mumbai. The BJP has this time denied renomination to all its three sitting MPs in Mumbai.
It has replaced Gopal Shetty with Piyush Goyal in Mumbai North seat, Manoj Kotak with Mihir Kotecha in Mumbai North East constituency and Poonam Mahajan with lawyer Ujjwal Nikam in Mumbai North Central constituency. The Sena had won Mumbai South, Mumbai South Central and Mumbai North West.
After a split in the party in 2022, Mumbai South Central MP Rahul Shewale and Mumbai North West parliamentarian Gajanan Kirtikar switched over to the Shiv Sena led by CM Shinde. The Shiv Sena has renominated Shewale and the Shiv Sena (UBT) has renominated Arvind Sawant from Mumbai South.
The ruling BJP-Shiv Sena alliance in the state is yet to announce its candidates for the Mumbai South seat. The opposition Congress is yet to announce its candidate in the Mumbai North seat. Elections to all the six Lok Sabha seats in Mumbai will be held on May 20.