Shiv Sena (UBT) Releases 17 Candidates for Lok Sabha Elections, Anil Desai Secures Key Mumbai Seat

Sanjay Raut, a leader of Shiv Sena (UBT), released the party's initial list of 17 candidates for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections today on Wednesday. Anil Desai has been chosen to represent the Mumbai South Central parliamentary constituency.

Raut stated that the party, led by Uddhav Thackeray, plans to contest a total of 22 seats in the general elections, with the remaining five names to be announced shortly. He also mentioned that in Hatkanangale, farmers' leader Raju Shetti has sought the support of the Maha Vikas Aghadi.

Out of the names revealed on Wednesday, 11 were previously announced by party chief Uddhav Thackeray during his visits to the respective Lok Sabha constituencies last month.

The party has also re-nominated all five incumbent MPs. Arvind Sawant will run for the Mumbai South constituency, Sanjay Patil for Mumbai North East, and Amol Kirtikar for the Mumbai North West constituency.

Rajan Vichare will represent Thane, while Vinayak Raut has been chosen for Ratnagiri Sindhudurg. Sitting MPs Sanjay Jadhav (Parbhani) and Omraje Nimbalkar (Osmanabad) have also been re-nominated.

The party will also field former MP Chandrakant Khaire for the Aurangabad seat. Interestingly, wrestler Chandrahar Patil has been selected for Sangli, a seat that the Congress, a partner in the Maha Vikas Aghadi, was keen on.

The Congress has announced its candidates for some seats where there is no conflict with its alliance partners. The Uddhav Thackeray-led party is a member of the MVA in the state. Another MVA member, NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar), has yet to officially announce its candidates in the state for the April-May Lok Sabha polls.

Maharashtra, which has the second-highest number of Lok Sabha seats (48) after Uttar Pradesh (80), will vote in five phases starting from April 19.

There is uncertainty over the candidate from the Kalyan Lok Sabha constituency, currently represented by MP Shrikant Shinde, the son of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

As the party has given a ticket to former MP Chandrakant Khaire, attention now turns to Ambadas Danve, the leader of the Opposition in the legislative council, who was expecting a party ticket. There were rumors that Danve might join the BJP or Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's party. However, Danve has previously denied such reports in local media and asserted that he would never leave Uddhav Thackeray.