MNS faces an uncertain future after failing to win a single seat in Maharashtra Assembly elections

Raj Thackeray. File pic

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray ran a vigorous campaign in the state Assembly elections, specifically targeting the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) and, more significantly, his cousin Uddhav Thackeray. Despite this, the MNS has not won a single seat in Maharashtra. Political analysts feel that the future of the party is now at stake.

MNS had fielded candidates in a total of 125 seats for the Assembly elections in Maharashtra. In Mumbai, the party had not put up any candidates in 10 of the 36 constituencies and because of this, there were speculations that the MNS chief was trying to help Mahayuti candidates contesting from these seats.

At the start of the election campaign, the MNS chief had also said that the Bharatiya Janata Party-Mahayuti would return to power. A few hours after it became apparent that the alliance was heading for victory, Thackeray posted his reaction on X, stating, "Unbelievable...That's it for now."

Many responses to the tweet by Raj Thackeray suggested a Raj-Uddhav Thackeray alliance for the future of Maharashtra.

In 2009, MNS had contested the Assembly elections and won 13 seats with a vote share of 5.71 per cent but after that, the political graph of the party has only seen a decline. In the 2014 and 2019 Assembly elections, the MNS vote share in Maharashtra was 3.15 per cent and 2.25 per cent, respectively.

In 2014, Sharad Sonavane from Junnar constituency won on an MNS ticket, becoming the lone legislator from the party. Similarly, in 2019, Raju Patil from Kalyan Rural constituency was the sole MLA to win the Assembly poll on an MNS ticket. The vote share of MNS in the 2024 Assembly elections is 1.55 per cent, its lowest so far.

‘Future looks uncertain'

Political analyst and Senior Assistant Editor at Lokmat, Sandip Pradhan, said, "The future of MNS looks uncertain as Raj Thackeray, despite vigorous campaigning, has failed to secure any seats. In the past, political parties within the Maha Vikas Aghadi have used him for their own advantage, and now the Mahayuti alliance seems to be following the same strategy. With the BMC [Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation ]elections approaching, MNS's situation could worsen. Both Raj and Uddhav Thackeray have yet to realise that ‘batenge toh katenge' is not just a political slogan. Rather than coming together for shared objectives, they have continued to attack one another, while their respective party workers are eager for collaboration and a unified approach."

A political expert who has been following the Shiv Sena and MNS closely and who did not wish to be named, said, "Not winning a single seat in the Assembly elections is a major setback for the party and this also raises questions over its survival. The other big defeat for Raj Thackeray in this election was also the fact that he couldn't even get his son elected from the Mahim Assembly constituency, which is also the area he had been staying in for decades. The BJP-Mahayuti has done exceptionally well and will use the results to win in the BMC polls, making it extremely difficult for MNS to win seats there too."

137
No. of seats in state MNS fielded candidates for

MNS's performance in key constituencies

Mahim: Amit, son of Raj Thackeray, secured 33,062 votes, coming in third position and losing by 17,151 votes.
Worli: Sandeep Deshpande secured 19,367 votes to come in third, losing by 43,957 votes.
Bandra East: Trupti Bala Sawant secured 16,074 votes and was in third position, losing by 41,634 votes.
Dindoshi: Advocate Bhaskar Parab secured 20,309 votes. He came in third, losing by 56,128 votes.
Bhandup: Shirish Sawant came in third with 2,555 votes and lost by 54,419 votes.
Thane: Avinash Jadhav secured 42,592 votes and was in third position. He lost by a whopping 77,781 votes.