Did Raj Thackeray's MNS prevent Uddhav Sena's wipeout in Mumbai?

The Shiv Sena (UBT) led by Uddhav Thackeray, which was routed in the entire state, managed to win 10 out of the 36 assembly seats in Mumbai. Of these 10 seats, three were won by a margin of less than 2,000 votes in the recent Maharashtra assembly elections. 

But was this win because of Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS)? Even though the MNS did not win a single seat in the assembly polls and is facing the risk of derecognition, the party's candidates divided the vote, causing Mahayuti to lose out in 10 seats in Mumbai. 

In Worli, Aaditya Thackeray won the seat of Worli by a margin of just 8,800 votes against Shiv Sena's Milind Deora and MNS' Sandeep Deshpande. While Aaditya got 63,324 votes, Milind Deora, on the other hand, got 54,523 votes.

MNS' Deshpande could not poll in more than 19,000 votes. The division of votes led to Aaditya's victory in the state. In Mahim, Raj Thackeray's son polled in slightly above 33,000 votes in his electoral debut but couldn't win from the seat. 

Instead, Shiv Sena (UBT)'s Mahesh Sawant won from the seat by a margin of mere 1,316 votes against Shiv Sena's Sada Sarvankar and will enter the Maharashtra assembly for the first time. 

The same thing happened in seats like Dindoshi, Jogeshwari East, Guhagar, Wani, Vikhroli, Bandra East, Versova, and Kalina in Mumbai.

In Bandra East, Uddhav Thackeray's nephew Varun Sardesai won against NCP's Zeeshan Siddique by a margin of more than 11,000 votes. MNS' Trupti Sawant secured more than 16,000 votes, causing a split in Mahayuti's vote share in the seat.

Shiv Sena's Sanjay Nirupam lost from the Dindoshi assembly seat by a margin of 6,182 votes from Shiv Sena (UBT)'s Sunil Prabhu. MNS candidate Advocate Bhaskar Parab polled in only 20,309 votes, effectively denting Nirupam's prospects. 

In Vikhroli, Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut's brother won by a margin of 15,526 votes by securing 66,093 votes against Shiv Sena's Suvarna Karanje. Karanje won 50,567 votes whereas MNS' Vishwajit Dholam secured only 16,813 votes. 

Another such case is in Jogeshwari East, where Shiv Sena (UBT)'s Anant Nar won with merely 1,541 votes against Shinde Sena's Manisha Waikar. The twist in the tale was that MNS candidate Bhalchandra Ambure took away 12,805 votes. 

In Versova, Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Haroon Khan won against BJP veteran Dr Bharati Lavekar by a margin of merely 1,600 votes. Haroon Khan polled in 65,396 votes whereas Dr Lavekar secured 63,796 votes. MNS' Raju Pednekar secured 6,752 votes. 

In Kalina, Sanjay Potnis of the Uddhav Sena won with 59,820 votes. BJP's Amarjeet Singh was trounced by a margin of 5,008 votes as MNS' Balakrishna Hudgi took 6,062 votes. Similar trend was noticed in Wani and Guhagar as well. 

In Wani, SS (UBT)'s Sanjay Devkar won by a margin of 15,560 votes as he secured 94,618 votes. BJP's Sanjivereddy Bapurao Bodkurwar polled in 79,058 votes. MNS candidate Raju Umbarkar secured 21,977 votes, reducing the Mahayuti's strength here. 

In the Guhagar assembly seat, Uddhav Sena candidate Bhaskar Jadhav won by securing 71,241 votes and defeated Shinde Sena's Rajesh Bendal by a margin of 2,830 votes. MNS' Pramod Gandhi contributed by polling in 6,712 votes.