Maharashtra Assembly Polls: Raj Thackeray’s MNS Releases First List Of 27 Candidates

The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) on Tuesday announced the first list of 27 candidates for the upcoming state assembly elections. The party fielded Ganesh Chukkal from Gjatkopar West, Akhil Chitre from Bandra East, Sandeep Deshpande from Mahim and Avinash Jadhav from Thane. The MNS has given ticket to Narendra Dharma Patil from Shindkheda.

On Monday, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray announced that his party will contest the October 21 state Assembly elections. "We will contest the Assembly elections and shall also win... The candidates and the seats on which we shall contest will be announced in the next couple of days," Thackeray said amid a thunderous applause at a meeting of the party officials.

Earlier, reports surfaced that the MNS will contest on 150 seats in the upcoming Assembly polls. The party chief Raj Thackeray ill start campaigning from October 5. “I will address my first public meeting on October 5. I will announce the number of seats and other issues at an appropriate time,” reported Hindustan Times quoting Thackeray as saying. 

As of now, there is no clarity on whether the party will enter into any tie-ups with other parties or alliances, though party leaders claim they would win sufficient numbers to emerge as 'king-maker' in case the other two main alliances fail to get the majority.