Shiv Sena (UBT) releases list of 17 candidates for Lok Sabha polls

The Shiv Sena (UBT), a constituent of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), on Wednesday released its first list of 17 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra, and said it will contest a total of 22 seats in the state.

It nominated former Union ministers Anant Geete and Arvind Sawant from Raigad and South Mumbai constituencies respectively.

It re-nominated all five sitting Lok Sabha MPs, who stayed with party chief Uddhav Thackeray, following the outfit's split in 2022. These lawmakers are Arvind Sawant (South Mumbai), Rajan Vichare (Thane), Vinayak Raut (Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg), Omraje Nimbalkar (Dharashiv) and Sanjay Jadhav (Parbhani).

The Sena (UBT) also fielded its Rajya Sabha member Anil Desai from Mumbai South-Central, party leader Sanjay Raut said.

Desai's tenure is coming to an end next month.

With this, the party has now fielded four candidates from Mumbai.

Sawant had resigned as a Union minister after the undivided Shiv Sena quit the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) over the power-sharing agreement in Maharashtra.

Vichare represents Thane, the home turf of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, whose rebellion triggered a split in the Shiv Sena founded by Bal Thackeray in 1966.

The Sena (UBT) also fielded veteran party leader Chandrakant Khaire from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. Khaire had lost to All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) candidate Imtiaz Jaleel in 2019.

From Mumbai North-East, the party fielded Sanjay Patil, a former Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLA and MP who later joined the Shiv Sena.

From Mumbai North-West, the party nominated Amol Kirtikar, son of Shiv Sena MP Gajanan Kirtikar, who owes allegiance to CM Shinde-led Sena.

The party also named Narendra Khedekar as its candidate from Buldhana, Sanjay Deshmukh from Yavatmal-Washim, Sanjay Wakchowre-Patil from Maval, Rajabhau Waje from Nashik, Bhausaheb Wakchaure from Shirdi and Nagesh Patil Ashtikar from Hingoli.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led party is a constituent of the opposition MVA alliance in the state.

Another MVA ally, NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) is yet to officially declare its candidates in the state for the April-May Lok Sabha polls. On the other hand, the Congress, which is also a part of the state-level grouping of the opposition parties, has declared its candidates on some seats where there is no tussle with its alliance partners.

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

"Shiv Sena will contest a total of 22 seats. Candidates for five seats will be announced in the next two days for Palghar, Kalyan Dombivli, Mumbai North, Hatkanangale, Jalgaon. The names have been finalised," Raut said.

He said Raju Shetti of the Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana wants to contest from the Hatkanangale seat with the support of the Shiv Sena (UBT).

This is the seat the undivided Shiv Sena won in 2019.

The party will take a call on whether to field a candidate from Hatkanangale or support Shetti, he added.