Maharashtra assembly elections: MNS releases first list of 27 candidates

The other prominent names include former MNS MLA Nitin Bhonsle, who will contest from Nashik Central, and former BMC corporator Sandeep Deshpande from Mahim. Raj Thackeray, who had floated the MNS in 2006 after splitting from the Shiv Sena, had hit the state’s electoral stage with a bang winning 13 seats in the 2009 Assembly election. Since then, his party spiralled downwards losing members as well as popularity. Of 13 MLAs elected in 2009, only three are still associated as party members. Presently, the MNS does not have an MLA in the Assembly after its lone MLA, who won in 2014, switched over to the Sena.

Raj Thackeray, a one-time avid supporter of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has over the years had a fallout with the BJP since it came to power in 2014.

In the run-up to 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the MNS chief had been increasingly critical of the BJP and had campaigned for the Congress-NCP in the state.

Thackeray had played a key role in getting the combined Opposition to come on one stage to protest the use of EVMs (electronic voting machine) and to demand a switch to the ballot paper system.