Aaditya Thackeray has uncle Raj to thank, Amit has uncle Uddhav to blame

The Thackerays have dominated the political scene in Maharashtra for close to half a century. The 2024 assembly elections saw the Thackeray cousins — Aaditya and Amit — entering the fray from Worli and Mahim respectively. While Aaditya won a second term from Worli, Amit Thackeray, contesting his maiden polls from Mahim, came a distant third. The fate of the Thackeray cousins, however, can be attributed to their uncles.
While Aaditya can thank his uncle Raj Thackeray for his victory, Amit can blame his uncle Uddhav Thackeray for his poll loss, underscoring the complicated family politics in India. Both Worli and Mahim, considered a stronghold of the undivided Sena, saw three-way contests.
In Worli, Aaditya Thackeray was up against Shiv Sena heavyweight and Rajya Sabha MP Milind Deora. Political pundits gave the upper hand to Deora, a former Union Minister who wields considerable influence in the Mumbai South region. This despite Aaditya winning the Worli seat in 2019 with a 72.7 per cent vote share.
However, Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), which did not nominate any candidate in 2019, fielded Sandeep Deshpande this time. The move seems to have queered the pitch for Deora. Aaditya won the seat by a margin of 8,801 votes over Deora. While Aaditya bagged 63,324 votes, Deora secured 54,523 votes. MNS’s Sandeep Deshpande came third, bagging 19,367 votes.
With Deshpande cutting into Deora’s votes, a direct face-off between Aaditya and the former Union Minister could likely have produced a different outcome.
Similarly, Mahim also saw a three-way contest between Shinde Sena, the Sena (UBT) and the MNS. While Mahesh Sawant of the Shiv Sena (UBT) secured a narrow victory over Eknath Shinde Sena’s Sada Sarvankar by 1,316 votes, Amit Thackeray came a distant third.
Sawant received 50,213 votes, while Sarvankar bagged 48,897 votes. Amit Thackeray garnered 33,062 votes. Thus, had Uddhav Thackeray not fielded any candidate from the seat, there could have been a likely chance of Amit winning his maiden electoral contest.