"It's a huge constituency, will meet electorate": Shiv Sena-UBT's Anil Desai to contest from South Central Mumbai

"Party chief Uddhav Thackeray has declared my name as a candidate from the party for the South Central Mumbai constituency. I will try my best and I will go around. The Lok Sabha constituency consists of six Assembly constituencies. It is a huge constituency. I will meet the electorate, I will see what development has taken place, what people's problems are and what their expectations are. We will have to prove to ourselves that their expectations are met," he said.

Notably, South Central Mumbai consists of six Assembly constituencies: Mahim, Vadala, Dharavi, Chembur, Anu Shaktinagar and Sion Koliwada.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Shiv Sena won the seat.

Shiv Sena's Rahul Ramesh Shewale gathered 53.3 per cent, while Congress' Eknath M. Gaikwad got 34.2 per cent of votes.

On Wednesday morning, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to share the list of the 17 candidates, namely for Raigad, Ratnagiri, Thane, Parbhani, Buldhana, Yavatmal, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, Shirdi, South Mumbai, North West Mumbai, North East Mumbai, Sangli, Hingoli, Dharshiv, Nasik and Maval seats.

Congress' senior state leader and member of the MVA negotiating committee Balasaheb Thorat said that the Sena should not have announced the candidates for Mumbai South Central, Bhiwandi and Sangli as those seats were still under discussion.

The UBT Sena is fighting the Maharashtra polls in alliance with the Congress and NCP (Sharad Pawar).

Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra will be held in five phases on April 19, April 26, May 7, May 13 and May 20.

The state, with its 48 Lok Sabha seats, is the second-largest contributor to the lower house of Parliament after Uttar Pradesh. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won 23 out of 25 contested seats, while the undivided Shiv Sena secured 18 out of 23 seats. (ANI)