Aditya Thackeray wins from Maharashtra's Worli seat

Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray)'s key candidate Aditya Thackeray has won from Maharashtra's Worli seat as per ECI's official website.

In a showdown between Shiv Sena (UBT) and Shiv Sena, Aditya Thackeray faced Milind Deora, a former Congress ally in the Maha Vikas Aghadi who recently joined the Eknath Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena, for the Worli assembly constituency in the 2024 Maharashtra assembly elections.

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Aditya Thackeray

Aditya Thackeray, who has been the Worli MLA since 2019, has retained the seat again after winning it in 2019 by a significant margin of 67,427 votes.

Thackeray told news agency ANI that the BJP and the Mahayuti alliance had “looted the nation and Maharashtra”, and that he wished to work for the development of the state as well fix the unemployment crisis among the youth.

His youth-centric platform has garnered him goodwill for many of his policies since his stint as cabinet minister of environment and tourism when he worked on the ban of single use plastic in the state and petitioned for the Aarey forest to be protected from the building of a metro car shed, both of which were popular issues among voters.

The new face of the Thackeray dynasty faces tough competition from the veteran politician Milind Deora, particularly because the constituency has been a Shiv Sena stronghold when it was a united party, leaving it up for grabs for either faction.

Milind Deora

Seasoned politician Milind Deora is expected to have influence among the Worli seat’s affluent residents and middle-class Maharashtrians, with several criticisms of the incumbent Thackeray’s term.

He cited specific projects, such as the Mahalaxmi Race Course, the Mumbai Metro, and the Vadhvan port, alleging that Thackeray's opposition and delays have cost the state significantly, including a loss of ₹14,000 crore related to the metro project alone

Sandeep Deshpande

The fight for the Worli seat, also features a third candidate, Sandeep Deshpande from the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), hoping to mobilise Marathi voters against the two Shiv Sena factions.

The Worli constituency has a diverse demographic profile, with a registered voter base of approximately 269,003 during the 2019 elections. This includes a mix of wealthy residents living in high-rises and lower-income groups in older housing structures like the BDD chawls. The constituency has seen fluctuating voter turnout rates, with about 49.55% participation recorded in the last assembly elections and 52.78 this year, reported news agency PTI.

Voting for the Maharashtra Assembly elections was held on November 20 in a single phase and counting for all 288 constituencies will take place on November 23, revealing the result of the long standing battle between two key alliances - the ruling Mahayuti (BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP) and the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (Congress, Shiv Sena UBT and NCP-SP).