Thirty-seven of the 41 MLAs who had sided with Chief Minister Eknath Shinde in his 2022 rebellion have found a place in the party’s first list of 45 candidates announced late on Tuesday. The four who do not feature in the list include Vishwanath Bhoir (Kalyan West), Shantaram More (Bhiwandi Rural), Balaji Jenikar (Ambernath) and Shrinivas Vanaga (Palghar), though the chance of them being accommodated in the next list is not ruled out. While the Mahayuti's final seat distribution has not been declared yet, the Shinde Sena is expected to contest 80-85 seats. Shinde himself will be contesting again from his stronghold of Kopri-Panchpakhadi Assembly seat in Thane, and is likely to face a fierce contest from the Shiv Sena (UBT), which is yet to declare any candidate. Among the seats for which the Shinde Sena has announced candidates is Mahim, with its naming of Sada Sarwankar putting to rest speculations of an alliance between the Sena and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). The MNS candidate from the seat is its chief Raj Thackeray's son Amit. In the Sena's stronghold of Mumbai, all six sitting Shinde Sena MLAs have been renominated. Vanaga, among the sitting MLAs not named, said he had "faith" in Shinde. "I'm sure my name will feature in the next list.” Besides, the Shinde Sena has accommodated eight Independents, while six close relatives of party leaders are among its nominees, the same as the BJP. Former state minister and Aurangabad MP Sandipan Bhumre’s son Vilas has been fielded from Paithan while Manisha Waikar, the wife of Mumbai North West MP Ravindra Waikar, will be in the fray from Jogeshwari East. Maharashtra Industries Minister Uday Samant’s brother Kiran will be the party candidate from the Rajapur seat while Abhijit Adsul, the son of former MP Anand Adsul, is the party’s pick for Daryapur. Sons of former MLA Anil Babar and sitting MLA Chimanrao Patil will be in the fray from Khanapur (Suhas Babar) and Erandol (Amo Patil), respectively. Strongman Arjun Khotkar, who recently hit the headlines for inducting Gauri Lankesh murder accused Shrikant Pangarkar into the party (he was later removed), will contest the Jalna seat while Independents Ashish Jaiswal and Manjulatai Gavit and Narendra Bhondekar will be in the fray from Ramtek, Sakri and Bhandara as the Sena’s candidates. Ministers Uday Samant, Dipak Kesarkar and Sanjay Rathod will try their luck from Ratnagiri, Sawantwadi and Digras, respectively while former minister Abdul Sattar has been nominated from Sillod.
