Maharastra Lok Sabha Polls: For First Time, Uddhav Thackeray To Vote For Congress

New Delhi: Maharastra is going to face a new picture of politics, where Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray is going to vote for the Congress, which was earlier his political foe. A split from the BJP in 2019 saw the emergence of a new alliance in the state where Shiv Sena joined hands with Congress and Nationalist Congress Party in an unprecedented development. 

The Congress party has nominated Varsha Gaikwad from the Mumbai North Central parliamentary constituency of Maharastra which covers the area where Thackeray is registered as a voter. Thus, on May 20, Thackery will neither vote for the BJP-Shiv Sena-Shinde candidate nor for his party as the constituency went to Congress under the seat-sharing deal. Congress has fielded Varsha Gaikwad from the seat while Mahayuti (BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP Ajit Pawar) is yet to announce its candidate. 

The Shiv Sena (UBT) president’s residence, Matoshree, is in the Vandre (Bandra) East assembly constituency, which comes under the Mumbai North Central seat, from where the Congress candidate is going to contest the election.

In Maharastra, the Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) are part of Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), where the Congress is going to contest from two Lok Sabha seats in Mumbai, including North Central. 

Congress Candidate Gaikwad is a sitting MLA and former state minister. Earlier, she met Thackeray at Matoshree and sought his support in elections.  Gaikwad has represented the Dharavi assembly constituency, which falls under the Mumbai South Central Lok Sabha seat, four consecutive times. 

Mumbai is going to polls in Phase-5 on May 20 for all 20 seats, along with the other 7 parliamentary constituencies in Maharastra.

Maha Vikas Aghadi  (MVA)

In 2019, Maharastra saw a major political change after the undivided Shiv Sena and the Congress were bitter political and ideological rivals until they came together to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance. They allied with the United Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) to keep the BJP out of power in Maharashtra. In 2022 the coalition government collapsed following a revolt in the Shiv Sena.