Maharashtra assembly elections 2024: Amit Thackeray set for Assembly debut from Mahim

Amit Thackeray paying tribute to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj at Dadar in March earlier this year. File pic

MNS president Raj Thackeray's son Amit Thackeray will be making his debut in the Assembly elections this year. The party announced his candidature from Mahim Tuesday night. For the neighbouring Worli, Sandeep Deshpande has been nominated.

It is to be seen what the two factions of the Shiv Sena do, especially in Mahim where Amit will be making his debut. In 2019, MNS had given a pass to Aaditya Thackeray's first electoral battle in Worli. It is said that Uddhav Thackeray will reciprocate in Mahim this year. However, MNS has put up a strong candidate in the form of Deshpande in Worli.

The party declared its first list of 45 candidates. The MNS first list has nominees for 18 seats in Mumbai, making it a multiparty tussle. It also named candidates in Thane, Kalyan, Pune, Vidarbha, north Maharashtra and other parts of the state. Sitting MLA Raju Patil will lead the party's challenge in Kalyan rural. Avinash Jadhav will be in Thane to challenge the BJP.

This time around, Raj Thackeray has been appealing to the people to vote for his party to make it one of the ruling parties. MNS will be contesting in November without being part of any alliance though it had supported Mahayuti in the Lok Sabha elections. In 2009, its first solo run had given MNS 13 MLAs. In the outgoing House, the MNS has just one legislator.

Uddhav Thackeray was the first from the family to become a CM in 2019. He got elected to the Upper House later. His son Aaditya made his Assembly debut from Worli in the 2019 state elections that the Sena had fought in a pre-poll pact with the BJP.