Can Milind beat Aditya in Worli?
There is strong speculation in political circles in Maharashtra about the possibility of Milind Deora contesting elections against Uddhav’s son Aditya Thackeray. Rajya Sabha MP Deora is currently in Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena. Shinde is said to have decided to remove him from the Worli Assembly seat. Shinde’s Shiv Sena won the Worli seat from the NDA.
Aditya became an MLA for the first time by winning from Worli in 2019. When the Shiv Sena split in 2022, Aditya spoke more in Eknath Shinde than Uddhav. In such a situation, Shinde wants to make a big political bet by pitting Milind against Aditya.
However, questions are also being raised in political circles whether Milind will be able to defeat Aditya or whether Aditya will get a win if Milind enters the fray.
Milind and his political career.
Milind, son of powerful Congressman Murli Deora, entered politics in 2004. The Congress fielded him from the south seat of Mumbai. Milind came to Parliament by winning from this seat in 2004 and 2009. In 2011, Milind was appointed Minister of State in the Manmohan Singh government.
Milind has also been the president of the Mumbai Congress and was considered close to Rahul Gandhi within the Congress. However, before the 2024 elections, Milind joined Shinde’s Shiv Sena. Shiv Sena sent him to Rajya Sabha.
Milind Deora’s performance in Worli
Milind Deora contested the Lok Sabha elections from South Mumbai in 2009, 2014 and 2019. Worli assembly seat falls only in Mumbai South Lok Sabha. 2009 aside, Milind Deora lost badly for Mumbai South in 2014 and 2019.
If we talk about Worli’s performance, here Milind got 39 thousand votes in 2009, 35 thousand votes in 2014 and 41 thousand votes in 2019. Except in 2009, in both elections the Shiv Sena candidate got almost double votes than Milind.
Milind Deora could not get a ticket from Worli seat in the 2024 elections after which he joined Eknath Shinde’s party. In 2024, the Uddhav candidate had a lead of 7,000 in the Worli seat. Arvind Sawant was the Uddhav candidate from here.
Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena had fielded Yamini Jadhav from south Mumbai.
Caste equation of Worli assembly seat
As per 2019 data, there are around 2 lakh 71 thousand voters in Worli. At one time, MNS was in a very strong position here, but in 2019, due to the entry of Uddhav’s son, MNS did not field any candidate here.
If we talk about the caste equation, there are 11 per cent Dalits and 9 per cent Muslims in Worli seat. Apart from this, 2.7 per cent of Patil’s voters, 2 per cent of Jadhav’s and 2 per cent of Kamble’s voters are in this area. All Worli voters belong to the urban community.
Can Milind defeat Aditya Thackeray?
The discussion among Milind’s candidature is whether Milind Deora will be able to defeat Aditya Thackeray in the Worli seat. Shiv Sena has lost this seat only once since 1990. In 2009, NCP’s Sachin Ahir defeated Shiv Sena’s Ashish.
When Aditya Thackeray contested from this seat in 2019, NCP’s Suresh Mane was in the fray in front of him. Aditya won these elections by 67,000 votes.
On the other hand, Milind’s record is bad. Milind has not been able to win any election since 2014. However, there is also a reason for relief for Milind. First, Milind is preparing to fight Shiv Sena from Shinde. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Shinde’s candidate trailed in this seat by just 6,000 votes.
Secondly, Uddhav Thackeray has fielded a candidate from Raj Thackeray’s son for the Mahim seat. It is said that Raj may also field a candidate against Aditya. If this happens then the contest here may be triangular.
