Mahim Assembly Election Results 2024: Shiv Sena UBT's Mahesh Sawant Leading By Over 7,400 Votes

Mahesh Sawant of Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) is ahead in the fifth round of counting in the assembly election race in Mumbai's key constituency of Mahim, according to the Election Commission website. The counting of votes is still underway.

Sada Sarvankar of Shiv Sena is trailing with 16,970 votes, while Amit Thackeray of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena has bagged 11,886 votes.

Mahim witnessed a three-cornered contest, involving the two warring factions of Shiv Sena and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena of Raj Thackeray.

The Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena refielded sitting MLA Sada Sarvankar from the constituency, whereas the Uddhav Thackeray-headed Shiv Sena (UBT) issued the ticket to Mahesh Sawant.

The MNS made an ambitious bid to wrest the seat by fielding Amit Thackeray, the son of Raj Thackeray.

Mahim, with over 2.5 lakh voters, was long seen a bastion of the undivided Shiv Sena. The constituency is home to the party's headquarters in Dadar.

In the last assembly election in 2019, Sarvankar had won the seat by a margin of 19,000 votes against his nearest MNS rival.

Although Mahayuti—the Bharatiya Janata Party-led alliance including Shinde's Sena and Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party—endorsed Sarvankar's candidature, some prominent leaders of the BJP appealed that the seat should be vacated for MNS.

Among them was BJP's Mumbai unit president Ashish Shelar, who pointed out that Raj Thackeray had withdrawn from the Lok Sabha race and offered unconditional support to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, Sarvankar refused to withdraw his nomination.

In the battle for Mahim, MNS was banking on what it believed was an anti-incumbency sentiment against Sarvankar. On the other hand, Sarvankar believed there was pro-incumbency and that the Mahim assembly segment had given Mahayuti a 14,000-vote lead in the Lok Sabha polls.

Sena (UBT)'s Sawant was hopeful of connecting with the voters with his "common man" image and his promise of round the clock accessibility.

Notably, all 288 seats of Maharashtra were contested in a single phase on Nov. 20. The electoral battlelines were largely drawn between the ruling Mahayuti and the Opposition bloc of Maha Vikas Aghadi, which comprised the Congress, the Uddhav Thackeray-led faction of Shiv Sena and Sharad Pawar-led faction of NCP.