Eknath Shinde Faces Mentor Anand Dighe’s Nephew Kedar in Kopri-Panchpakhadi, Yugendra Pawar To Take On Uncle Ajit in Baramati Seat; Key Battles to Watch Out for in Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2024

Mumbai, October 27: As the deadline for filing nominations for the Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2024 nears, the political atmosphere is heating up as parties scramble to finalise the candidates. Having announced most of the candidates, the MahaYuti and the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) have already hyped the much-awaited Maharashtra elections 2024. This assembly election ensues a few key battles to watch out for.

The Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2024 are an interesting one as they have pitted a daughter against her father and a chief minister against his mentor's nephew. Several uncles are facing a tough contest from their nephews. Former friends have also locked horns for the Maharashtra polls. We at LatestLY bring you a few key battles to watch out for in the Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2024. Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2024: BJP’s Mangal Prabhat Lodha, Shiv Sena’s Pratap Sarnaik, Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar Top Rich Candidates List.

Key Battles to Watch Out for in Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2024

Eknath Shinde Faces Mentor Anand Dighe's Nephew Kedar

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde is set to contest from his stronghold in Thane in Maharashtra elections 2024. Shinde, who first won the seat in 2009, has maintained his winning streak with victories in 2014 and 2019. The Opposition’s Shiv Sena (UBT) has nominated Kedar Dighe, nephew of the late Shiv Sena leader Anand Dighe, to challenge Shinde. Anand Dighe was a mentor to Shinde and other undivided Shiv Sena leaders. The fight between Shinde and Dighe would be worth watching for.

Uncle vs Nephew in Baramati

In this Maharashtra assembly election, all eyes will be on the Baramati seat in Pune. Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar is set to contest for a prestigious seat, marking a significant electoral battle. The constituency will see a family face-off as the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) has nominated Yugendra Pawar, son of Ajit’s younger brother Srinivas, to challenge him.

In the recent Lok Sabha elections, Ajit Pawar’s wife, Sunetra, secured 573,979 votes in the Baramati parliamentary constituency in the Pune district. However, she was defeated by her sister-in-law, Supriya Sule of the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction), who received 732,312 votes. Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2024: All Nephews in Politics Have Same DNA, Says NCP Leader Chhagan Bhujbal.

Aaditya Thackeray vs Milind Deora vs Sandeep Deshpande

Milind Deora, who quit the Congress and joined Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena earlier this year, will be contesting against Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray from Mumbai's Worli seat in next month's Assembly polls. Aaditya Thackeray, the son of Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, is the incumbent MLA from Worli and had won from there in 2019.

The Worli seat will see a triangular battle as the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), led by Raj Thackeray, has fielded Sandeep Deshpande.

Devendra Fadnavis vs Praful Gudadhe

In Nagpur South-West, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is the Mahayuti candidate. Fadnavis, who served as chief minister from 2014 to 2019 and briefly in November 2019, has a strong electoral record. He has won assembly polls five times—twice from Nagpur West and thrice from Nagpur South-West. This marks his sixth assembly election, with a political career spanning 25 years since 1999.

The Congress has fielded senior corporator Praful Gudadhe to contest against Fadnavis. This will be their second electoral battle following the 2019 election, in which Fadnavis defeated Gudadhe by over 50,000 votes.

Varun Sardesai to Challenge Zeeshan Siddique

Zeeshan Siddique, son of former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique, will be contesting the upcoming polls from Vandre East on the NCP (Ajit Pawar faction) ticket. Zeeshan recently switched allegiance from the Congress to the NCP. Yuva Sena leader Varun Sardesai, cousin of Aaditya Thackeray, will be the main challenger for Zeeshan Siddique in this constituency. The contest is expected to be a closely watched battle.

The election to the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly will be held in a single phase on November 20, and the results will be declared on November 23. This election promises high drama, featuring intense rivalries such as Sena vs Sena, Pawar vs Pawar, and the perennial Congress vs BJP battle. The political landscape has undergone significant changes since the last assembly election in 2019, marked by splits and power shifts that have reshaped alliances and strategies.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 27, 2024 07:07 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).