The Kalina constituency in Maharashtra is going to witness an electoral battle between candidates who first contested against each other in 2014 and then became allies in 2019 and now are contesting as rivals again in 2024.

Thanks to the political upheavals, splits, and the transformations the state witnessed over the past five years, Shiv Sena leader and two-time MLA Sanjay Potnis is all set to fight the rival candidate and BJP’s Amarjeet Singh, once part of the same alliance.

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During the 2014 assembly elections, Undivided Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Potnis emerged victorious against the BJP’s Amarjeet Singh, who became the runner-up, pushing the Congress to third. During the 2019 assembly elections, the Shiv Sena allied with the BJP, making both Potnis and Singh in the same camp. Sanjay Potnis retained the seat with a relative margin of around 4,000 votes. BJP leader Singh did not contest, and the Congress’ George Abraham became the runner-up, polling 32 percent of the vote share.

This time, with the split within Shiv Sena, Potnis is once again going to face Singh as an MVA candidate on the Shiv Sena UBT ticket.

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However, the two-time MLA is said to have been facing anti-incumbency from the constituency as several issues, such as slum rehabilitation, traffic congestion, flooding, and water scarcity, among others, are troubling the people. Voters complain lack of effective actions from the legislator to address their concerns. Notably, the MLA has blamed the Mahayuti government for not executing projects meant to address many of these issues, including the traffic concerns in the locality.

On slum redevelopment, Potnis blames the restriction on the height of buildings while criticizing the Shinde-led government for not addressing the issue. Responding to the BJP candidate’s allegations that the MLA was not available for the people in the constituency, Potnis claimed he was available for the people in his constituencies every day.

Adding more layers of competition, the MNS candidate Balkrishna Hutgi and VBA nominee Mohammad Luqman Siddiqui are also vying for Kalina, though their impacts is expected to be minimal.

R