The Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) had secured a victory in one and was leading in three out of the six Lok Sabha constituencies in Mumbai as of 5.30 pm, according to the Election Commission data.

The party’s candidate Anil Desai won the Mumbai South Central constituency and the Uddhav Thackeray faction’s candidates were ahead in Mumbai South, Mumbai North West and Mumbai North East seats.

Its Maha Vikas Aghadi ally, the Congress, was leading in the Mumbai North Central seat as of 5.30 pm. Varsha Gaikwad of the Congress had secured 4.34 lakh votes, with a lead of 18,580 votes over Ujwal Nikam of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

The BJP, so far, has managed to secure a lead in only one seat in the city, Mumbai North, where Union minister Piyush Goyal was leading Congress’ Bhushan Patil by 3.5 lakh votes.

All six Lok Sabha seats in India’s financial capital went to polls in the fifth phase of general elections on May 20. Maharashtra voted in five phases between April 19 and May 20 to elect 48 MPs.

In the 2019 general elections, the BJP won 23 seats in the state and the undivided Shiv Sena clinched 18.

The BJP had won the Mumbai North, North East and North Central seats, whereas the undivided Shiv Sena had emerged victorious in Mumbai South, South Central and North West.

This time, Maharashtra witnessed a tight political battle between the ruling National Democratic Alliance and the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi bloc.

The National Democratic Alliance in the state comprises mainly the BJP, the Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led faction of the Shiv Sena and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party group. The Maha Vikas Aghadi primarily includes Thackeray’s Shiv Sena faction, the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party group led by party founder Sharad Pawar.

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After the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly polls, held five months subsequent to the general election, the united Shiv Sena led by Thackeray had quit the BJP-led alliance to form the state government along with a united Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress. The coalition collapsed in June 2022 when a group of Shiv Sena MLAs led by Shinde rebelled and formed a coalition government with the BJP. This split the Shiv Sena into two factions, with one led by Thackeray and the other by Shinde.

A year later, Nationalist Congress Party leader Ajit Pawar, along with several party MLAs, also joined the ruling coalition. This split the Nationalist Congress Party, with one faction supporting Sharad Pawar and the other backing his nephew Ajit Pawar.

The Lok Sabha elections, the first major polls in the state since these political churns, is seen as a benchmark determining which faction of the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party have popular support. While the Election Commission awarded the original party symbols to Shinde and Ajit Pawar’s groups, not all voters are aware of the changes – adding to confusion among voters.

Also read: Bow and arrow or torch? In Maharashtra, confusion over new election symbols may help BJP, allies