Contest in Kalyan prestige battle for Maharashtra CM Shinde's son

Shrikant Shinde had comfortably won the Kalyan Lok Sabha seat in Maharashtra in the last two elections, but the stakes are higher this time as his father, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, now heads a truncated faction of the Shiv Sena following a bitter split in the party.

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The constituency, part of the Thane district and close to Mumbai, contains densely populated urban areas and industrial belts. It will go to polls on May 20.

Shrikant Shinde entered politics in 2014, contesting as a candidate of the then undivided Shiv Sena and won with a margin of 2,50,749 votes. He increased the margin to 3,44,343 in the 2019 general elections.

But the political scenario has changed drastically since then, as his father rebelled against party chief Uddhav Thackeray and walked away to join hands with the BJP to become chief minister in June 2022.

Uncertainty surrounded Shrikant Shinde's candidature this time as the BJP sensed the possibility of contesting more seats in Maharashtra, and its leader and state minister Ravindra Chavan, MLA from Dombivli, was keen to fight from Kalyan.

Of the six assembly segments in Kalyan, three including Dombivli are with the BJP and one each with the Shinde-led Shiv Sena, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, and NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar).