Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2024 | Rivals Amit Thackeray and Sada Sarvankar shake hands outside temple in Mumbai

Both of them were among the early voters as polling was under way on Wednesday for the 288 assembly seats in Maharashtra.

Mumbai: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) candidate Amit Thackeray and his Shiv Sena rival Sada Sarvankar on Wednesday came face-to-face outside the Siddhivinayak temple in Mumbai where both of them shook hands.

Thackeray and Sarvankar, who sought God's blessings at the temple, are pitted against each other in Mahim assembly constituency located in Mumbai's south central area.

Both of them were among the early voters here as polling was underway on Wednesday for the 288 assembly seats in Maharashtra.

Sarvankar, who is the sitting MLA from Mahim seat, said he wishes good luck to all candidates.

Thackeray, who is contesting his first election, said he is not tensed.

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The BJP wanted Sarvankar to withdraw in support of Amit Thackeray as his father and MNS head Raj Thackeray supported the NDA in the Lok Sabha polls earlier this year.

But Sarvankar stayed put and refused to back out.

Mahesh Sawant of the opposition Shiv Sena (UBT) is also in the fray in the Mahim seat.

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena's Mumbadevi candidate Shaina NC and Byculla seat nominee Yamini Jadhav also cast their votes in the early hours of polling.

Assembly Elections 2024 | The Maharashtra Assembly polls will take place against the backdrop of a fractured political landscape in the western state where the Shiv Sena and NCP will be going up against the Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar factions, even as the BJP and Congress try to make their mark. Meanwhile, in Jharkhand, the JMM faces a new challenge after Hemant Soren's recent arrest and Champai, a longstanding party member, joining the BJP. The Haryana election resulted in a shock loss for Congress, which was looking to galvanize on the Lok Sabha poll performance, while J&K also saw the grand old party eventually stepping away from the cabinet, with Omar Abdullah's JKNC forming government. It remains to be seen if the upcoming polls help BJP cement its position further or provide a fillip to I.N.D.I.A. Check live updates and track the latest coverage, live news, in-depth opinions, and analyses only on Deccan Herald.

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