Lok Sabha elections 2024: Fight for formidable four

The Thane Kalyan Bhiwandi and Palghar Lok Sabha constituencies which are part of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region will see the Maha Vikas Aghadi and Mahayuti butting heads The Thane seat once considered a Matoshree stronghold mainly comprises the urban area of Thane districtmdash the base of the Chief Minister Eknath Shinde Navi Mumbai and MiraBhayandar while the Bhiwandi and Palghar constituencies include urban and rural parts of the Thane and Palghar districts and the Kalyan Lok Sabha seat comprises urban and semiurban areasIt will be challenging for Shiv Sena UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray to make inroads into the Thane and Palghar districts as most former corporators and MLAs from these areas sided with the Shinde faction after the split in the Shiv SenaThanePolitical landscapeThis constituency will see a direct fight play out between Thackeray and Shinde whose respective blueeyed boys Rajan Vichare and Naresh Mhaske are vying for powerThe Thane Lok Sabha constituency comprises six Vidhan Sabha segments most of which are represented by Shiv Sena and BJP legislators Shinde and fellow Sainik Pratap Sarnaik are the MLAs of KopriPachpakhadi and OvalaMajiwada respectively while the Thane Airoli and Belapur segments are represented by BJPrsquos Sanjay Kelkar Ganesh and Manda Mhatre Geeta Jain an Independent who is supporting the Shinde Sena is the Mira Bhayandar MLAPrevious victorsVichare has been the incumbent since the 2014 general election where he defeated Sanjeev Naik a former NCP MP by 281 lakh votes In 2019 he secured 740 lakh votes besting NCPrsquos Anand Paranjpe whose tally was 412 lakh votesConstituency and concernsWhile Navi Mumbai is renowned as a planned city Thane and Mira Bhayandar are plagued by illegal constructions and hawkers as well as transport water supply and solid waste management issues Navi Mumbai facing issues such as encroachment and lacks a proper internal transport systemRajan Vichare Shiv Sena UBTA former mayor and MLA the twotime MP became the face of the Thackeray faction in Thane following the split in the party Vichare started his political career alongside Shinde under the leadership of the late Shiv Sena leader Anand DigheDeclared wealthMovable assets Rs 373 croreImmovable assets Rs 26 croreNaresh Mhaske Shiv SenaA former mayor of Thane and twotime corporator Mhaske is known as the blueeyed boy of Shinde He is the Thane district head of the party The post once occupied by Dighe and Shinde is among the most prestigious ones in the Shiv Sena He is also a spokesperson for the Shinde factionDeclared wealthMovable assets Rs 1026 croreImmovable assets Rs 2108 croreKalyanPolitical landscapeDr Shrikant Shinde the chief ministerrsquos son and a twotime MP is contesting this seat for the third consecutive time Now he is up against former corporator Vaishali Darekar of the Shiv Sena UBTInitially it seemed that apart from the Opposition Mahayuti ally the BJP was not in favour of Shrikant Shinde as BJP MLA Ganpat Gaikwad opened fire on Shiv Sena city head Mahesh Gaikwad inside a police station earlier this yearOf the six Assembly seats here four are with the Mahayuti MNSrsquos Pramod Patil is MLA of the Kalyan Rural segment Mumbra Kalwa MLA Jitendra Awhad belongs to the NCP SP The Ulhasnagar Kalyan East and Dombivli segments are represented by BJPrsquos Kumar Ailani Ganpat Gaikwad and Ravindra Chavan As the party holds sway in the constituency party workers had demanded that its candidate be fielded from here However it was Shinde who was picked as the Mahayuti candidatePrevious victorsSince the formation of the constituency in 2009 Shiv Sena won it thrice In 2014 Dr Shinde defeated former Shiv Sena MP Anand Paranjpe who was contesting on an NCP ticket Dr Shinde got 440 lakh votes as opposed to Paranjapersquos 190 lakh In 2019 Dr Shinde defeated Babaji Patil the NCP by 344 lakh votesConstituency and concernsKalyan which comprises urban and semiurban areas mainly faces issues involving water supply solid waste management illegal construction and sanitation Public transport is problematic while Kalyan and Dombivli are plagued by traffic congestion Citizens also mainly depend on Mumbai and Thane for medical treatmentDr Shrikant Shinde Shiv SenaDr Shinde is seen as the educated face of the Shiv Sena The twotime MP is wellconnected to Delhi circles as well as highranking government officials in Maharashtra He started taking participating heavily in the partyrsquos internal politics after the splitDeclared wealthMovable assets Rs 815 croreImmovable assets Rs 677 croreVaishali Darekar Shiv Sena UBTThe twotime Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation councillor was elected as a corporator for the first time in 2005 She later joined the MNS and was elected as its corporator in 2010 She also contested the 2009 Lok Sabha election as the MNSrsquos candidate She secured 102 lakh votes Recently she is known for taking an aggressive stance against the chief ministerDeclared wealthMovable assets Rs 118 croreImmovable assets Rs 506 croreBhiwandiPolitical landscapeOnce a famous textile hub Bhiwandi is now emerging a prominent chemical and goods transport hub This constituency has been dominated by BJP for a decade with its twotime MP and Union minister Kapil Patil being fielded yet again The seat was mainly associated with the Congress but the NCP SP gained it during seat sharing The grand old partyrsquos workers are still upset about thisFive out of six MLAs representing Bhiwandirsquos Assembly segments belong to the Mahayuti One seat Bhiwandi East is held by the Samajwadi PartyPrevious victorsThis constituency first existed as a parliamentary seat from 1962 to 1971 Congress was dominant then It came into existence again in 2009 Suresh Taware of the Congress won the general election that year against BJPrsquos Jagannath Patil In the next two Lok Sabha polls Kapil Patil defeated Congressrsquos Vishwanath Patil and Taware by 11 lakh votes and 156 lakh votes respectivelyConstituency and concernsBhiwandi lacks adequate medical infrastructure and internal public transport Apart from the proliferation of illegal constructions air pollution due to chemical plants obtaining drinking water and sanitation are challenges Bhiwandi is at the crossroads between North and Western Maharashtra and Gujarat making it an ideal goods transport junction But due to ill planning advantage isnrsquot being taken of its locationKapil Patil BJPThe Union Minister of State in the Ministry of Panchayati Raj had jumped to the BJP from the NCP in 2014 He was chairman of the Thane district cooperative bank He also had a stint as the president of the Thane zilla parishadDeclared wealthMovable assets Rs 874 croreImmovable assets Rs 2827 croreSuresh Mhatre NCP SPPopularly referred to as Balya Mama this leader is known for party hopping He began his political career in the Shiv Sena He was elected as a zilla parishad member In 2014 he contested the Lok Sabha election on an MNS ticket securing 93000 votes Later he won the zilla parishad election again He demanded a Congress ticket for the 2019 Lok Sabha election Though NCP patriarch Sharad Pawar supported him the grand old party denied him one He then joined NCP working as the partyrsquos district president After the split in the Shiv Sena Mhatre joined the Shindeled faction before finally becoming an NCP SP memberDeclared wealthMovable assets Rs 6042 croreImmovable assets Rs 4662 crorePalgharPolitical landscapeThis geographically diverse district was formed in 2014 after being separated from the Thane district It includes the Vasai Virar Municipal Corporation The Bahujan Vikas Aaghadi BVA holds sway over the seat which was part of the Mumbai North constituency before 2009 Three of the seatrsquos six MLAs belong to the BVA party president Hitendra Thakur his son Kshitij Thakur and Rajesh PatilIn 2018 Rajendra Gavit the tribal development minister in the thenCongressNCP government joined the BJP and contested a Lok Sabha bypoll necessitated by the death of the BJP MP Chintaman Vanaga who came to power in 2014 The next year undivided Shiv Sena got this seat and Gavit contested as its candidate and won the electionPrevious victorsIn 2014 Vanaga defeated BVArsquos Baliram Jadhav The former secured 533 lakh votes while the latter got 293 lakh After Vanagarsquos death Gavit secured 272 lakh votes in the bypoll Vanagarsquos son Shrinivas contested the election as the Shiv Sena candidate as the BJP denied him a ticket In 2019 Gavit contested the election as Shiv Sena candidate and secured 515 lakh votes while his rival Baliram Jadhav of the BVA secured 491 lakh votesConstituency and concernsThe Palghar district has water and public transport issues The water problem is more severe in the eastern part There is opposition to the two projects the MumbaiAhmedabad bullet train project and the Vadhavan Port Although there is diversity such as beaches and forests adequate tourist facilities have not been developed Declining fisherman income is another big problemBharti Kamdi Shiv Sena UBTAfter losing the first Palghar Municipal Council election in 1999 she was elected twice as a member of the Palghar zilla parishad She worked as president of the organisation for more than a year After the Sena split she supported ThackerayDeclared wealthMovable assets Rs 51 lakhImmovable assets NILDr Hemant Savara BJPThe son of former minister Vishnu Savara he fought his first Vidhan Sabha election from Vikramgad constituency in 2019 but was defeatedDeclared wealthMovable assets Rs 367 croreImmovable assets Rs 4 croreRajesh Patil BVAThe Boisar MLA who is contesting on Bahujan Vikas Aaghadi ticket is considered the educated face of the rural party headed by Hitendra ThakurDeclared wealthMovable assets Rs 288 croreImmovable assets Rs 751 crore