Shiv Sena's Trupti Bala Sawant, who defeated Narayan Rane with a margin of over 19,000 votes during the 2015 by-election for Bandra East Assembly, has filed nomination as an Independent candidate this time. The move is a result of the Sena giving a ticket to Mumbai Mayor Vishwanath Mahadeshwar from the seat. Another Sena corporator, Rajul Patel, too has filed an Independent nomination from the Versova Assembly. Sena sources said that they will talk to Sawant and try and convince her to withdraw her nomination.

While Mahadeshwar's name had been doing the rounds for almost a month, sources close to Sawant said that she was confident of retaining the Bandra East Assembly seat. But with the Thackeray family announcing Mahadeshwar's name on Thursday, Sawant was upset. On Friday afternoon, she filed a nomination as an independent candidate.