Maharashtra Lok Sabha Elections: Shiv Sena candidate wins Mumbai North-West by just 48 votes

In Mumbai North-West, Ravindra Waikar from Shiv Sena won the 2024 Lok Sabha election. He beat Amol Kirtikar from Shiv Sena (UBT) by just 48 votes. Waikar got 4,52,644 votes, while Kirtikar received 4,52,596.

Kirtikar is the son of Gajanan Kirtikar. While the Bharatiya Janata Party didn't support him, Uddhav Thackeray did. He is also being investigated for problems with a city contract. Still, he's getting help from local party groups. He also ran for assembly in 2019 but didn't win.

The BJP, which had publicly announced Mission 45 for Maharashtra, is down to 10 seats as per the ECI. It had contested 28 seats as part of the alliance with Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar’s NCP. 

Worse, unlike in several other states where the party’s vote share went up irrespective of seat loss, in Maharashtra the party’s vote share dipped by one per cent from 27.84 per cent to 26.45 per cent. 

The loss of ten seats will be significant in the assembly elections slated later this year. For the last 10 years the BJP had been the single-largest party in Maharashtra assembly. 

Uddhav Thackeray, leader of Shiv Sena (UBT), said the INDIA alliance will meet tomorrow to choose their Prime Minister candidate. He believes voters have shown their power and thinks his group should try to form the national government. He says the BJP is claiming they have enough votes to win, but he disagrees. 

Devendra Fadnavis, Maharashtra's Deputy Chief Minister, blamed his side's poor performance on rumours that the BJP would change the Constitution after the election.

Maharashtra has 48 election areas including Ahmednagar, Akola, Amravati, Aurangabad, Baramati, Beed, Bhandara Gondiya, Mumbai North, Mumbai South and Mumbai North East. 

Under Narendra Modi's leadership, the BJP party has won two national elections in a row, in 2014 and 2019.