Two descendants of Maratha warrior king Shivaji — Shahu Chhatrapati and Udayanraje Bhosale — are contesting the Lok Sabha election from separate seats in western Maharashtra representing rival political fronts, the Maha Vikas Aghadi and the Mahayuti, respectively.
While Mr. Chhatrapati is making his electoral debut on a Congress ticket from Kolhapur and will take on the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena’s sitting MP Sanjay Mandlik, Mr. Bhosale is contesting from Satara on a BJP ticket and pitted against NCP (SP) candidate Shashikant Shinde. Both seats go to polls in the third phase on May 7.
Mr. Bhosale, who is currently a Rajya Sabha MP, had won the Satara seat in 2019 as a candidate of the undivided NCP, but resigned within a few months and joined the BJP. However, in the subsequent byelection, he lost to the NCP’s Shriniwas Patil.
