For the past two years, Uddhav Thackeray has been saying that Eknath Shinde walked away with 13 members of parliament and 40 legislators but ordinary Shiv Sainiks are with him. On Saturday that claim was put to rest with Eknath Shinde scoring spectacular success in the Maharashtra State assembly elections. “Voters of Maharashtra have decided which is the real Shiv Sena,” Eknath Shinde declared as he thanked the electorate.

Of the 85 seats it contested across the State, Shiv Sena won 15 seats and was leading in 40 more as on Saturday afternoon. Shiv Sena (UBT) emerged winner in seven and was leading in 14 others of a total 95 seats. In the 2019 assembly elections the undivided Shiv Sena had contested 126 seats and emerged victorious in 56 of them.

In Mumbai, which is the birthplace of the party, Shiv Sena (UBT) contested in 22 seats this time while Shiv Sena fielded representatives in 16. The two parties faced off in 11 of those seats.

UBT comes a cropper

In four of those (Byculla, Mahim, Vikhroli and Worli) Shiv Sena (UBT) emerged winner while Shiv Sena emerged on top in Andheri East. Among its star winners was Aaditya Thackeray who defeated Milind Deora of Shiv Sena by 8,801 votes.

As counting was underway, Shiv Sena led in four seats (Bhandup, Chembur, Kurla, and Magathane) while Shiv Sena (UBT) was in front in Dindoshi and Jogeshwari (East).

Different strategies

With Marathi-speaking population their key support base both parties adopted different campaign strategies.

Shinde’s campaign blended infrastructure development with ideology. Shinde’s campaign tagline of ‘Kelay Kaam Bhaari, Aata Pudhchi Tayari’ (I have done my best and now readying for the next) and his claim of being the rightful leader of the party that would never join hands with Congress resonated with the voters. “People of Maharashtra reposed faith in us because they saw us as doers. People have embraced the politics of development and welfare and shunned the politics of revenge and hate,” Shinde remarked.

In contrast, Sena (UBT) made the campaign a Maharashtra versus Gujarat issue. Claiming to champion the cause of locals, it accused the Shinde government for the shift of industries to Gujarat, sell out of Mumbai to Adani group etc. Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena which failed to win a single seat got labelled as Gujarat Navnirman Sena in Sena (UBT)‘s campaigns. “Voters chose progress without speed limits over speed breaker politics. The real gaddari was in 2019, not in 2022. Hope always triumphs over fear,” Deora said in a X post summarising the party’s success.

However, Uddhav is in no mood to give up his claim as the real Sena. “We will need to find exact reasons of the results. I want to tell people of the State to not get disappointed. Some people say this is EVM’s victory, it may be the case, but if State’s citizens agree with the results, then no one should argue. We will continue fighting for Maharashtra’s rights. I promise the people of Maharashtra, we are with you.”

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