Mumbai: Areas: Belapur and Airoli (Navi Mumbai), Thane, Kopri, Panchpakhadim Owala, Majiwada, Mira-Bhayander.
History: Till the last elections, Thane was one of the biggest constituencies in the country. However, after
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ADVANTAGE: Anand Paranjape |
delimitation it has been divided into Kalyan and Thane and some parts of Bhiwandi. Thane has been a stronghold of the Shiv Sena for more than a decade.
Biggies: Anand Paranjape, whose father late Prakash Paranjape won the seat for four consecutive terms since 1996, is the sitting MP. After the death of Prakash, Anand won the seat in the by-poll elections against former Navi Mumbai Mayor and Ganesh Naik's son Sanjeev Naik with a record margin of more than 2.5 lakh votes.
Anand is considered to be a strong contender for the seat from the saffron alliance. The goodwill of the late Anand Dighe, the face of the Shiv Sena in Thane district, that worked wonders in the past is expected to do the same for the saffron alliance this time.
The constituency has a strong Sena base barring some segments in Navi Mumbai where the NCP has managed to gain some ground, thanks to the presence of Ganesh Naik, a former Shiv Sena leader and now NCP minister. This time, its most likely to be a fight between two young politicians, Sanjeev Naik and Anand Paranjape. NCP MLC Jitendra Avhad and Eknath Shinde, the sitting MLA from Shiv Sena, commands considerable clout in the areas. The voters mostly comprise the urban population.
Size of voter base: 20.90 lakh
Who: A majority of voters are Maharashtrians with a few Gujarati and Muslim voters. The remaining urban voters are likely to determine the fate of the seat.
Strengths: On the face of, there is a likelihood of the Sena-BJP alliance getting a clear majority, as past records indicate. With the delimitation the Thane constituency, the Sena did lose some supporters, but the NCP will be the biggest loser as they'll lose out on the Muslim votes from Kalwa and Mumbra that are no longer part of this constituency.
Tea-leaf Reading: Sena-BJP likely to sweep the polls.
