Mumbai: The serene coastal belt of Maharashtra, including Mumbai, offers an interesting backdrop for a showdown between Mahayuti and MVA alliances in the next month’s assembly elections, especially between two rival Shiv Senas.
The most urbanised and industrial region, including Mumbai metropolitan area, sends 75 MLAs to the assembly and 12 members to Lok Sabha.
The coastal Konkan division in Maharashtra, spread from Sindhudurg to Mumbai, also covers Palghar, Thane, Raigad and Ratnagiri districts.
Voting will be held in all 288 state assembly constituencies on November 20 and results will be declared on November 23.
In the recent Lok Sabha polls, the Mahayuti alliance of Shiv Sena, BJP and NCP bagged seven seats in the Konkan region.
The BJP triumphed in Palghar, Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg and Mumbai North, while the NCP, led by Ajit Pawar, had a face-saver in Raigad where its leader Sunil Tatkare retained his seat. The Shiv Sena won Thane, Kalyan and Mumbai North West.
In the upcoming polls, former Union minister Narayan Rane, who won the Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg Lok Sabha seat, is set to play a crucial role for BJP in the Konkan region.
In Thane city, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s Kopri-Pachpakhadi constituency, and Worli in Mumbai, where Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray seeks re-election, are poised to be pivotal battlegrounds.
The contest primarily shapes up as a rivalry between Shiv Sena factions, raising the stakes significantly.
Urban issues are at the forefront, with housing, urban poverty and infrastructure challenges dominating discussions as the region copes with rapid population growth.
The Congress’ influence has waned over the years, particularly in Mumbai, where it has ceded ground to Shiv Sena (UBT) within the MVA.
The upcoming assembly elections present a complex political landscape, marked by rivalries and shifting alliances.
The state’s electoral map also includes the districts of Vidarbha, north Maharashtra, Marathwada and western Maharashtra.
As far as regional dynamics are concerned, Vidarbha with 62 assembly constituencies is politically significant, home to key leaders like Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, opposition leader Vijay Wadettiwar, state Congress chief Nana Patole and his BJP counterpart Chandrashekhar Bawankule.
The Congress aims to regain lost ground against the BJP which has made substantial inroads in the past decade, with pressing issues such as irrigation and farmer distress.
A hotbed of Maratha quota agitation, the Marathwada region has 46 assembly segments where the Congress and Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) are expected to have an edge over rivals.
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