CM’s son makes a hat-trick in Kalyan, Shinde Sena wins Thane

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena candidate from Thane, also emerged victorious as Naresh Mhaske defeated the incumbent Thane MP and UBT candidate Rajan Vichare by a comfortable margin of over 2.17 lakh votes.

Shrikant had earlier won from Thane seat in 2019 and 2014.

In Kalyan constituency, Marathi speakers forms the majority of the voting population followed by North Indians and other communities.

Around 50 per cent of registered voters had turned out to vote on the poll day.

Shrikant while interacting with journalists outside the counting centre in Dombivli said, “The development works I have done in the Kalyan constituency is turning out to be the key factor behind the positive performance in the election. I thank all the voters, supporters and party workers.”

Intensive campaigning in the region, taking along leaders from regional communities in his rallies and other campaigns programmes, visiting big housing societies and approaching all caste and language groups and publicizing his works could be attributed to the Shrikant’s victory.

During his election campaign, the CM’s son had claimed that since he had done excellent development works in the constituency in the past 10-years and that he is confident of victory with a huge margin this time. However, Shrikant’s margin has dipped from previous year.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Shinde while contesting from undivided Shiv Sena had won by beating Babaji Balaram Patil of NCP by a margin of 3,44,343 votes which was 38.68% of the total votes cast. In 2014, Shinde was the winner in this seat beating Anand Prakash Paranjpe of NCP by a margin of 2,50,749 votes which was 30.42% of the total votes polled in the constituency.

The lesser than expected votes to Shrikant is being attributed to anti-incumbency and rifts with local BJP leaders.

The local BJP leadership in the constituency has opposed Shrikant Shinde’s candidature and even passed a resolution during a party meeting last year stating there would be non-cooperation with the Sena in the constituency.

This hostility further intensified with BJP MLA from Kalyan East, Ganpat Gaikwad, allegedly firing on Mahesh Gaikwad, the Kalyan city president of the Eknath Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena, and a party activist, inside a police station in Ulhasnagar.

There was also an underlying sympathy for the Thackerays in the region.

The win of Shinde from the Kalyan constituency would not be a surprise to anyone. Many people already perceived the Kalyan constituency as a one-sided battle between a two-time sitting Member of Parliament, a political heavyweight in the region, and a relatively less popular, less influential, and lightweight candidate.
But Sena (UBT) backed her saying their tradition has been giving a chance to grassroots party workers.

Mhaske wins from Thane

Emerging victorious in the bitterly fought battle to conquer Shiv Sena’s oldest forts, Shinde Sena candidate Naresh Mhaske defeated the incumbent Thane MP and UBT candidate Rajan Vichare by a huge margin of over 2.17 lakh votes on Tuesday.

In Mhaske’s victory, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has managed to dent Vichare’s image as a strong force in the city.

Of the 24 candidates who were in the fray, the battle on Tuesday, boiled down to Vichare and Naresh Mhaske, who took the lead from the initial round of counting.
Despite being a relative lightweight, Mhaske garnered 7,22,222 votes while Vichare clocked in 5,08,185 votes. Meanwhile, NOTA votes stood at 17,558.

For Shinde, winning the inaugural contest from Thane seat, since he engineered the Sena split was crucial as it is from the backwaters of this constituency that he rose through the ranks of Sena and represented its Kopri-Pachpakhadi Assembly seat for four consecutive terms since 2004 when he became the MLA.

Mhaske’s victory comes despite his nomination sending ripples of discontent within the alliance after several workers of BJP who were supporting Sanjeev Naik resigned after he was jettisoned as the Lok Sabha candidate for Mahayuti.

From winning its first ever elections in 1967 to retaining the Lok Sabha constituency seven out of eight times since 1996, Thane has been a strong Sena stronghold.
Traditionally, Thane’s older areas have been predominantly Maharashtrian but recent years have witnessed significant demographic shifts in the region.