Aaditya Thackeray’s Clout Increases With Mumbai University Senate Poll Win

The Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray has been placed in a firmer position to demand most assembly seats in Mumbai following its youth wing’s spectacular victory in the Mumbai University senate election held a couple of days ago. The outcome has enhanced Aaditya’s clout and his party’s prospects for Mumbai. Over the years, the Sena has been a dominant political player in Mumbai, relegating the BJP to a secondary position when both were together. Since the Sena split in 2022, it was felt that the party will be weakened considerably. However, Uddhav has established that its popularity is hardly affected. The Sena won the legislative council election from the Mumbai Graduates’ constituency with a solid margin earlier this year. The win in the senate election has endorsed the fact that the Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde’s Sena faction has failed to make its mark in Mumbai in spite of the fact that several MLAs and corporators had followed Shinde out of the party. The three-party Maha Vikas Aghadi swept the Lok Sabha election in Mumbai and Maharashtra, sending alarm signals for the saffron Mahayuti alliance. The senate election was a fight between the Sena (UBT) and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, under the Sangh Parivar. Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirmal Sena’s youth wing and other student organisations had kept away from the prestigious election.