Thane: This is the first election since Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde caused a vertical split in the Shiv Sena and joined hands with the BJP.
Eknath Shinde, who has been elected from the Kopri-Pachpakhadi seat in Thane city from 2009 Maharashtra Assembly polls, is seeking re-election. He is contesting on a Shiv Sena ticket, which has the support of BJP and Nationalist Congress Party led by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. He won from the seat on three occasions on an undivided Shiv Sena ticket. He was elected as an MLA from Thane in the 2004 elections on an undivided Shiv Sena ticket.
The seat comes in an urban area and the voters are middle and upper-middle-class families. This time it is a straight battle between Shiv Senas as the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) has fielded Kedar Prakash Dighe, who is the nephew of late Shiv Sena leader Anand Dighe.
Eknath Shinde considers the late Anand Dighe as his mentor and so in the upcoming polls, he is directly taking on the nephew of his mentor. Also, the Maratha quota is an important issue in the 2024 Assembly polls and it remains to be seen if Eknath Shinde can retain the Kopri-Pachpakhadi seat.
