While Deputy Chief Minister (DCM) Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena is yet to announce their seats for the upcoming Municipal Corporation (MC) polls, the party has released the list of 40-star campaigners, including actor Govinda Ahuja, to campaign in the elections scheduled for January 15.
Amid the seat-sharing talks with its ally BJP, Shiv Sena has stepped up its poll preparation as it has finalised the star campaigner list, having a mix of senior party leaders and well-known faces. The list includes Mr. Shinde and his son, Shrikant Shinde, MP and Shiv Sena parliamentary party leader. The other senior leaders are Ramdas Kadam, Gajanan Kirtikar, Anandrao Adsul, Union Minister Prataprao Jadhav, Neelam Gore, and Meena Kumble.
Shiv Sena’s State Cabinet Minister Gulabrao Patil, Dada Bhuse, Uday Samant, Deputy Shambhuraj Desai, Sanjay Shirsat, Prakash Abitkar, Pratap Sarnaik, Ashish Jaiswal, Minister of State, and Yogesh Kadam will also campaign for the Shiv Sena MC candidates. Dharamveer Spiritual Sena president, Akshay Maharaj Bhosale, Sameer Kazi of Minority Department, Shayna NC, National Spokesperson, will also campaign in the high-stakes polls for 29 municipal corporations, including Asia’s richest municipal corporation, BMC.
According to Uday Samant, Shiv Sena and BJP have reached an agreement for over 150 seats in BMC, while 77 are pending. For Shiv Sena, municipal elections are crucial as this is the first MC elections after the split in Shiv Sena in 2022 and also to maintain the victory, as Shiv Sena won 53 posts of municipal presidents, ending second after the BJP in the State.
The list also includes Shiv Sena MLAs and MPs such as Deepak Kesarkar, Sandipan Bhumre, Naresh Maske, Ravindra Waikar, and Milind Deora. Besides, Shiv Sena spokesperson Deepak Sawant, Shahaji Bapu Patil, Rahul Shewale, Sanjay Nirupam, Raju Waghmare, Dr Jyoti Waghmare, Puresh Sarnaik, and Rahul Londhe are part of the list.
On January 15, political parties will contest in 29 MC covering 2,869 seats, and around 3.5 crore voters will participate in the exercise to appoint the public representatives.