Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Former Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam faced a setback as the Shiv Sena, led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, nominated former close aide to Uddhav Thackeray, Ravindra Waikar, from Mumbai North West Lok Sabha constituency, said party on Tuesday. He will take on Amol Kirtikar of the Shiv Sena (UBT).
Waikar, an MLA from Mumbai's Jogeshwari area, was a close aide of Uddhav Thackeray. He joined the Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde in March this year. Waikar is a former standing committee chairman of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, a four-time corporator and has been MLA from Jogeshwari for four terms.
Sanjay Nirupam was seeking ticket from Mumbai North West
Sanjay Nirupam left Congress for a ticket from the North West seat and was in constant touch with the Shinde group and BJP. He was miffed with the party for allowing the Shiv Sena (UBT) to take the seat for the upcoming parliamentary polls.
Initially, Nirupam had expressed his intention to contest from the same seat but not as an independent candidate. However, with the declaration of Ravindra Waikar as the Mahayuti candidate, Nirupam's options have narrowed down, leaving him with the sole recourse of contesting the elections as an independent candidate.
NDA won 3 seats in Mumbai in 2019
In the 2019 elections, the BJP and its then-ally Shiv Sena (undivided) secured three seats each out of the total six in Mumbai.
This time, the BJP has opted not to re-nominate its three incumbent MPs in Mumbai. Gopal Shetty has been replaced by Piyush Goyal in the Mumbai North constituency, Manoj Kotak by Mihir Kotecha in Mumbai North East, and Poonam Mahajan by lawyer Ujjwal Nikam in Mumbai North Central.
Previously, the Sena had clinched victories in Mumbai South, Mumbai South Central, and Mumbai North West.
Following a party division in 2022, Mumbai South Central MP Rahul Shewale and Mumbai North West MP Gajanan Kirtikar shifted allegiance to the Shiv Sena led by CM Shinde. Shewale has been renominated by the Shiv Sena, while the Shiv Sena (UBT) has put forward Arvind Sawant as their candidate from Mumbai South.
The ruling BJP-Shiv Sena coalition in the state has yet to reveal its contenders for the Mumbai South seat. Meanwhile, the opposition Congress is yet to announce its candidate for the Mumbai North seat. The elections for all six Lok Sabha seats in Mumbai are scheduled for May 20.
Mumbai North West Lok Sabha constituency
Mumbai North West is one of the Lok Sabha constituencies in Maharashtra. The state has 48 parliamentary seats. The Mumbai North West seat comprises 6 Assembly segments including Jogeshwarieast, Dindoshi, Goregaon, Versova, Andheri west and Andheri east. The constituency is a general seat. The Shiv Sena and the Congress are the main parties in the constituency.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, Gajanan Kirtikar from Shiv Sena won the seat with a margin of 260,328 votes. Gajanan Kirtikar was polled 570,063 votes with a vote share of 61.00 per cent and defeated Sanjay Nirupam from Congress who got 309,735 votes (32.89 per vent). In the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections, Gajanan Chandrakant Kirtikar from Shiv Sena won the seat and was polled 464,820 votes with a vote share of 51.77 per cent. Congress candidate Kamat Gurudas Vasant got 281,792 votes (31.38 per cent) and was the runner-up. Gajanan Chandrakant Kirtikar defeated Kamat Gurudas Vasant by a margin of 183,028 votes.
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