Capping days of speculation, the Shiv Sena on Sunday said it has decided to field Aaditya Thackeray, the elder son of party chief Uddhav Thackeray, from the Worli assembly constituency in Mumbai.
With this, Aaditya has become the first member of the Thackeray clan ever to contest an election.
A close aide of Sena chief told PTI, "Aaditya Thackeray's name has been finalised for the Worli assembly segment. Shiv Sena's sitting MLA Sunil Shinde will vacate his place for Aaditya."
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"Worli is considered one of the safest constituencies for the Sena, hence Aaditya's candidature has been finalised. Former NCP leader Sachin Ahir had recently joined the Sena, which will make Thackeray's win easy," he said.
Ahir had unsuccessfully contested the 2014 assembly election against Sunil Shinde.
Ever since the Shiv Sena was founded by late Bal Thackeray in 1966, no member of the family had contested any election or held any constitutional post.
Uddhav's cousin and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray had announced his intention to contest the 2014 state assembly elections. However, he had later changed his mind.
If Aaditya wins the election, he will be the first member of the family to represent the people. The Shiv Sena has been projecting him as the chief ministerial face if the NDA returns to power after the next month's assembly polls.
Uddhav Thackeray had on Saturday recalled the "promise" he had made to his late father Bal Thackeray to install a 'Shiv Sainik' (party worker) as the chief minister of Maharashtra.
His statement had come against the backdrop of the BJP top brass repeatedly stressing that incumbent Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis would helm the state once again.
In July, Aaditya has launched a state-wide 'Jan Ashirwad Yatra' to thank the electorate for their support in the last Lok Sabha polls and to seek their backing for the upcoming Assembly elections.
The BJP won maximum 122 out of 260 seats it had contested while the Sena bagged 63 out of 282 seats.
Both the parties later joined hands to form a BJP-led government.
The Central Election Committee of the BJP held a meeting on Sunday to finalise its candidates for the assembly elections in Haryana and Maharashtra, with sources indicating that the party's seat-sharing arrangement with the Shiv Sena in the western state will be announced in a day or two.
The party's top brass, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, its chief Amit Shah and working president J P Nadda, deliberated for several hours with other CEC members and leaders from the two states to finalise names of candidates.
The BJP and the Shiv Sena have reached a seat-sharing agreement for the assembly elections in Maharashtra, to be held on October 21, say reports. Quoting unnamed sources, the NDTV reports that the BJP will contest 144 seats while the Shiv Sena will contest 126 seats. The remaining 18 seats have been allotted to the smaller allies of the NDA.
Sources told the TV channel that the Sena will also get the post of deputy chief minister.
According to the report, the decision came after internal meeting of the BJP earlier on Thursday. The meeting was attended by party chief Amit Shah, working president J.P. Nadda and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
Maharashtra has 288 seats in the lower house of which BJP had won 122 and the Sena 63 in the 2014 assembly election, which they had fought separately.
-Inputs from PTI
