Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde Wins Thane Kopri Pachpakhadi Assembly Seat

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde retained his Thane turf in the state assembly election, winning 1,59,060 votes for the Kopri Pachpakhadi seat that he contested.

At 10:15 a.m., Shinde had a lead of over 14,180 votes against his chief rival Kedar Dighe, nephew of his late mentor and Shiv Sena stalwart Anand Dighe. Kedar Dighe, fielded by Shiv Sena (UBT), lost the seat by 1,20,717 votes, according to Election Commission data.

Shinde's win comes as his Mahayuti coalition leads across the state.

Exit polls on Wednesday gave the alliance an upper hand in the election. NDTV’s Poll-of-Polls forecasted 155 seats for the BJP-led Mahayuti, 120 for Congress-led MVA, and 13 for others.

The Maharashtra assembly election has been a fight between the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA)—comprising Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray faction), Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (SP), and the Congress—and the Mahayuti alliance comprising Shiv Sena, NCP and the Bharatiya Janata Party.

The assembly has 288 seats and any political formation requires 145 to form a simple majority government.

Eknath Shinde took the office of Maharashtra CM in June 2022 to succeed Uddhav Thackeray, after leading a rebellion against the Thackeray family and splitting the Shiv Sena. The government was formed with the support of the BJP, and later by the Ajit Pawar-led NCP.

The Mahayuti has projected Shinde, a Maratha leader, as the CM face during the election, even as the BJP remains the dominant party in the alliance.

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