Thane, an Assembly constituency comprising three municipal corporations governed by the BJP, Shiv Sena and the NCP, is set to witness a showdown in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The results are said to change the fortune of all three cities - Thane, Mira-Bhayandar and Navi Mumbai. While Shiv Sena's Rajan Vichare, a sitting MP, is being pitted against NCP's Anand Paranjpe, the deciding factor of this contest will be the number of votes from Mira-Bhayandar area, governed by the BJP.

Shiv Sena bastion

Thane has remained a Shiv Sena bastion since the 1999 general elections, except in 2009 when Dr Sanjeev Naik defeated Shiv Sena candidate Vijay Chaughule with a margin of 50,000 votes. In the next election, however, Sena, made a comeback after Vichare secured double the number of votes.