Kalyan Lok Sabha Constituency in Maharashtra is one of the hot seats in the state. The constituency has been a stronghold of undivided Shiv Sena. The sitting MP Shrikant Shinde, who is the sitting MP from Kalyan and son of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, is a part of Eknath Shinde's camp which gives an advantage to the ruling party. Considering his performance in the last two elections, Shiv Sena (Eknath) fielded him from the seat.
Kalyan Lok Sabha poll battle 2024
It would be interesting to see who Shiv Sena loyalist voters would vote for - Eknath's camp or Uddhav Thackeray's faction - in the Sena vs Sena poll battle in the Kalyan constituency. Thackeray pitted Vaishali Darekar Rane - a former MNS leader - against Shrikant. Shrikant eyes hat-trick from Kalyan but this time the poll battle is different. He will have to overcome united opposition, including Thackeray family loyalist voters.
Shrikant Shinde will be Mahayuti candidate from Kalyan: Fadnavis
Earlier, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on April 10 announced Shrikant's candidature from Kalyan, ending a week-long suspense over which party will get to contest the high-profile constituency.
Fadnavis' announcement came at a time when a section of BJP in Kalyan had expressed reservations against fielding Shrikant.
Kalyan Lok Sabha elections 2029
In the 2019 elections, the Shinde junior, who contested as Shiv Sena (undivided) nominee, had garnered 5,59,723 votes against his Nationalist Congress Party (undivided) challenger Babaji Balaram Patil, who bagged 2,15,380 votes.
A doctor by qualification, Shrikant Shinde was first elected to Lok Sabha from Kalyan in 2014 and again in 2019.
BJP cadre reportedly unhappy with Shrikant
The local BJP cadre, however, has been demanding that the constituency be allotted to the party in the Mahayuti seat-sharing agreement, arguing that three of the six assembly segments have BJP MLAs. The rest three seats have Shiv Sena, MNS and NCP (SP) MLA each.
Who is Shiv Sena (UBT)'s candidate Vaishali Darekar?
Darekar-Rane had contested from Kalyan on the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) ticket against the Shiv Sena's Anand Paranjape in 2009, finishing third by bagging 1.02 lakh votes.
Voting date of Kalyan constituency
According to the Election Commission, the electorate in the Kalyan constituency will exercise their franchise on 20 May in the Phase 5 of the Lok Sabha elections. The results will be announced on June 4.
(With agencies inputs)
