Maharashtra assembly election 2019: Raj Thackeray's MNS to contest polls, plans to go solo

Mumbai, Sep 30: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray on Monday announced that his party will be going to contest upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections scheduled for October 21.

"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.

Many questions were raised whether Raj Thackeray's MNS will contest the polls or not after he was questioned by ED recently. Many had speculated that Raj Thackeray may not contest the assembly elections.

MNS is very likely to contest elections alone as Congress and NCP have already said that they will distribute seats equally.

However, the exact number of seats the MNS will contest is not yet clear. But if reports are to be belived the party may contest on around 125 seats.

Raj Thackeray, 52, had quit the party in 2006 and formed the MNS the same year.

The party leaders have claimed they would win sufficient numbers to emerge as the 'king-maker' in case the other two major alliances fail to get the majority.

According to IANS reports, MNS is likely to put up candidates mostly in urban centres like Mumbai, Thane, Palghar, Nashik and Pune and the campaign will be kicked off with a public rally here on October 5.

However, it is yet to be ascertain if the party will field candidate in Worli, from where Raj Thackeray's nephew Aditya Thackeray will contest his maiden election.

Earlier, MNS had not fielded any candidates in Lok Sabha elections 2019. Thackeray had carried out a vigorous campaign against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiv Sena during the Lok Sabha elections.