Sena fields Ravindra Waikar in Mumbai North West, Yamini Jadhav in Mumbai South for LS polls

The Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde on Tuesday nominated Ravindra Waikar, a former aide of Uddhav Thackeray, and Yamini Jadhav as its candidates from Mumbai North West and Mumbai South Lok Sabha seats, respectively, who will face their ex-colleagues from Sena UBT.

The Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde on Tuesday nominated Ravindra Waikar, a former aide of Uddhav Thackeray, and Yamini Jadhav as its candidates from Mumbai North West and Mumbai South Lok Sabha seats, respectively, who will face their ex-colleagues from Sena (UBT). Notably, Waikar was facing the Enforcement Directorate investigation in a case registered against him by the Mumbai Police. The Income Tax department had conducted searches at the premises of Jadhav's husband and Shiv Sena corporator Yashwant Jadhav on charges of tax evasion, Waikar, an MLA from Jogeshwari, will face Amol Kiritkar, son of Mumbai North West MP Gajanan Kirtikar, who is given the ticket by the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena. Jadhav, incumbent MLA from Byculla, will take on Mumbai South sitting MP and Thackeray loyalist Arvind Sawant, a former Union minister.

By fielding Waikar and Jadhav, the Shiv Sena has managed to ward off the BJP's demand to contest a fourth seat in Mumbai. The Shinde-led Sena has already fielded sitting MP Rahul Shewale from Mumbai South Central seat. Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said all three candidates of Sena from Mumbai will be Maharashtrians. Home to the country's richest, Mumbai South Lok Sabha constituency boasts of imposing skyrises in the upscale Colaba and Malabar Hill areas and also houses fishermen colonies. Waikar, who joined the Shinde camp on March 10 while under scrutiny of Central agencies, was a close aide of Uddhav Thackeray.

He started his political career as a corporator in Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and was the chairman of the BMC standing committee from 2006 to 2009. Waikar was a minister in the erstwhile Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government headed by Thackeray. The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police had last year booked Waikar and five others in a case about obtaining approval for constructing a five-star hotel on a plot reserved for a garden, allegedly causing a massive loss to the BMC. The ED registered a case of money laundering against Waikar last November based on the Mumbai police's FIR. The federal agency had also conducted searches at seven locations, including the premises of Waikar, and questioned him.

''The party has fielded Waikar from Mumbai North West seat,'' said party secretary Sanjay More. Yamini Jadhav was among the 39 MLAs who pledged support to Shinde when he revolted against Uddhav Thackeray in June 2022. Her husband Yashwant Jadhav was once considered close to Thackeray.

The Mumbai North West constituency is spread across six assembly segments, with BJP currently holding three, Shiv Sena led by Shinde one, and Sena (UBT) two. Out of six assembly constituencies under the Mumbai South LS seat, two are with Shiv Sena (UBT), one each with Shiv Sena and Congress, while BJP represents two segments. Of the total six Lok Sabha seats in Mumbai, the BJP and erstwhile ally Shiv Sena (undivided) won three seats each in the 2019 elections. The BJP has this time denied renomination to all its three sitting MPs in Mumbai. It has replaced Gopal Shetty with Piyush Goyal in Mumbai North seat, Manoj Kotak with Mihir Kotecha in Mumbai North East, and Poonam Mahajan with noted lawyer Ujjwal Nikam in Mumbai North Central.

The Shiv Sena (undivided) had bagged Mumbai South, Mumbai South Central, and Mumbai North West Lok Sabha constituencies in the previous elections.

Elections to all the six Lok Sabha seats will be held on May 20. The last day for filing nomination papers is May 3.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)