Mumbai: The ensuing Maharashtra assembly elections are the first direct battle between the Mahayuti and MVA after the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The campaigns have reached final stages and PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah have also conducted election rallies in Mumbai. Being the capital city, the battle to lead in Mumbai is what any political party wants.
Mumbai has 36 assembly constituencies, including Mumbai city and suburbs. Some of the key constituencies in the western suburbs include Dahisar, Borivali, Kandivali, Bandra, Andheri and Jogeshwari, and key constituencies in the eastern suburbs are Mulund, Bhandup, Ghatkopar and Kurla.
The Sena Vs Sena Battle in Mumbai’s Magathane
Magathane (154) is predominantly on the eastern side of Borivali in Mumbai North. The constituency was created after the delimitation in 2008. In its first assembly election in 2009, Pravin Darekar was elected as the MLA from Magathane from MNS ticket. After losing in 2014, Darekar is with the BJP now.
Since 2014, the seat has been represented by undivided Shiv Sena’s Prakash Surve. After the division in Shiv Sena, Surve chose to go with Eknath Shinde’s Sena. For the 2024 assembly polls, Shiv Sena’s Prakash Surve is renominated from the seat and is the official Mahayuti candidate. While, the MVA has fielded Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Udesh Patekar. Magathane is witnessing a direct Sena versus Sena contest. However, to make the battle tougher, MNS has fielded Nayan Kadam, who stood second in the 2019 assembly polls.
Considering, that the Mumbai North Lok Sabha constituency is the bastion of the BJP, Shiv Sena’s Prakash Surve has a strong backing of the BJP national leaders. The Mumbai North Lok Sabha constituency consists of six assemblies, including Borivali, Dahisar, Magathane, Kandivali East, Charkop and Malad West. Out of this, except Magathane (Shiv Sena) and Malad West (Congress), all four assembly seats are led by the BJP. Thus, the Mahayuti candidate Prakash Surve is in a stronger position than the MVA candidate.
Past Poll Statistics
In the 2014 assembly polls, Shiv Sena’s Prakash Surve won against BJP’s Hemendra Mehta with a margin of 20,385 votes. While, in 2019, Surve won against MNS’ Nayan Kadam with a higher margin of 49,146 votes. Nayan Kadam is contesting for 2024 polls too, giving a tough fight to Mahayuti candidate Eknath Shinde’s Prakash Surve and Sena UBT’s Udesh Patekar.
Poll stats of Magathane seat during 2019 assembly elections | EC
Constituency’s Performance During 2024 Lok Sabha Polls
Magathane falls in Mumbai North Lok Sabha seat, the bastion of the BJP and in the 2024 Lok Sabha, Union Minister Piyush Goyal was elected as the MP, defeating Bhushan Patil from Congress. Piyush Goyal got a total of 6,80,146 votes, of which the Magathane assembly constituency gave him 1,01,321 votes. Bhushan Patil got 55,413 votes from Magathane.
About Magathane Seat
Magathane is not a reserved seat, thus it is allotted for a General Category candidate. During the 2019 assembly elections, the total number of registered voters in Magathane were 2,74,102, of which 151,878 were male voters and 122,224 were female voters. The voter turnout for the 2019 assembly polls for Magathane was 55.27 per cent.
Current situation in Maharashtra Assembly:
Currently, the ruling disposition, Mahayuti in Maharashtra has 202 MLAs with it. Out of these, BJP has 102 seats, NCP (Ajit Pawar) has 40, Shiv Sena (Shinde) has 38 and other parties have 24.
MVA has 69 seats in its kitty. Out of these, Congress has 37, Shiv Sena (UBT) has 16, NCP (Sharad Pawar) has 12 and other parties have six seats. Fifteen seats are vacant.
