Shinde Sena candidate Sada Sarvankar stayed in the fight against MNS chief Raj Thackeray’s son Amit for the Mahim Assembly constituency, but not before drama unfolded in Dadar on Monday afternoon as the deadline for nomination withdrawal came to a close. Raj refused to meet Sarvankar, asking him to “do what he wanted”, because the veteran had given enough hints that he was determined to make it a three-way contest with Sena (UBT) nominee Mahesh Sawant also in the fray.

Earlier in the day, Sarvankar said he had no specific instructions from his party boss, CM Eknath Shinde, to withdraw. He had also put a condition that, if he were to withdraw, then the MNS could also pull out its candidates against Mahayuti from other constituencies in Mumbai.