Besides victory and loss, the outcomes in these assembly constituencies could shape the future of the leaders in the fray as well as their fronts—the Mahayuti and the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA).

A look at some of the big fights that will determine the course of this election:

Worli

In 2019, Aaditya Thackeray became the first from his family to venture into electoral politics by contesting the assembly elections from Worli in Mumbai. As the nominee of the undivided Shiv Sena, Thackeray got a cakewalk of sorts when Sachin Ahir, an ex-MLA from the seat and a former minister from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), joined the Shiv Sena. Thackeray romped home against the NCP-backed Suresh Mane by almost 70,000 votes.

However, much water has flown down the bridge since then, and this time, Thackeray faces a triangular fight against Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Milind Deora and former corporator Sandeep Deshpande of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). Thackeray's Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) faces the challenge of reaching out to voters with the new 'mashaal', or flaming torch symbol, instead of the traditional 'bow and arrow' that is now with the Sena faction led by chief minister Eknath Shinde.

The Worli seat has 65-70 per cent Marathi speakers, and around a third of the constituency lives in slums and a significant number in chawls. Thackeray's opponents accuse him of being inaccessible. Deshpande is expected to cut into the Marathi votes of the undivided Shiv Sena while Deora may get some votes from residents of high-rises and housing societies, who form around 15 per cent of the electorate.

Thackeray, speaking to INDIA TODAY, listed the launch of the first mobile Covid-care centre for the people of Worli and Mumbai, pushing the pending redevelopment of the BDD chawls and Slum Rehabilitation Authority (SRA) projects as his achievements as the constituency's MLA. "Where were these people, who are making these allegations against me, during the Covid pandemic? Some went away to their farm houses. We have worked for the people during the Covid pandemic. Some were even ready to join us, but we refused to take them in. After all, what was the benefit for Maharashtra if we gave them a Rajya Sabha berth?" he retorted, when asked about allegations about his inaccessibility.

Baramati

In the Lok Sabha elections, NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) patriarch Sharad Pawar won the first round of his battle against his recalcitrant nephew and Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar when his daughter Supriya Sule defeated Ajit's wife Sunetra Pawar. A humbled Ajit was forced to say that fielding his wife against his cousin was a blunder.

Now, another Pawar versus Pawar fight is taking place in Baramati as Ajit, as a contestant, faces a challenge from nephew Yugendra Pawar, son of his younger brother Shrinivas aka Bapu. Yugendra, who had hit the ground running in the Lok Sabha elections for his aunt Sule, is focusing on issues like stagnating industrial growth and water problems in parts of the constituency located in Pune district. He hopes to tap into the perceived anti-incumbency against uncle Ajit, who has been representing the seat since 1991.

However, despite Sule's swashbuckling victory, Ajit's supporters claim that it is 'Dada' (as he is called) who will make the cut in this assembly poll contest. "We will win the election one way by a margin of over 100,000 votes… The issue of development will work here. In the Lok Sabha elections, the issue of this being saheb's (Pawar Senior) last election came into play and affected the results," says Jay Patil, Baramati city chief of the NCP.

Mahim

In the Mahim seat that abuts Worli, Aaditya Thackeray's politically estranged cousin Amit Thackeray is in the fray as a nominee of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). MNS chief Raj Thackeray's son is the second Thackeray to contest a public election. While the BJP was eager that Sada Sarvankar, the Shiv Sena MLA from the seat, withdraw from the fray in Amit's favour, Sarvankar dug his heels in, allegedly at the urging of his party bosses. This was apparently because the Shiv Sena top brass was upset at Raj's statement that the next chief minister of Maharashtra would be from the BJP and with support from the MNS. This implied that incumbent Eknath Shinde was on his way out.

Sharing his vision for the constituency, Amit told INDIA TODAY: "I want to completely transform Mahim beyond people's expectations. I want to clean up the seashore, solve the problems of the residents of the police colony and the Kolis (fisherfolk). Shivaji Park has not been developed in the manner it should be. The cricket pitches must be aesthetic. I go there for a walk daily. Cricketers urge me to do something about it, and say this is the worst pitch on which they are playing cricket in Mumbai. This is very unfortunate. Where do we take our children to play? I take my son Kian to play in a park developed by Raj saheb (Raj Thackeray) using Lata Didi's (late maestro Lata Mangeshkar) funds (when she was a Rajya Sabha MP). I am 32 years old and my son is two. I am taking him to the very place where I played as a child."

The Shiv Sena (UBT) has fielded Mahesh Sawant, who hopes to sail through in the battle between the MNS and the Shiv Sena, based on the sympathy votes for the Uddhav Thackeray faction. There is much at stake for all three Senas since this constituency is at the heart of the nativist politics of the undivided Shiv Sena and the iconography of party founder Bal Thackeray.

The Shiv Sena was formed at Ranade Road in Dadar, where the Thackeray clan stayed in a modest ground-floor flat. Thackeray family patriarch 'Prabodhankar' Keshav Sitaram Thackeray, the journalist and activist, had launched public Navratri celebrations with social reformers Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar and Raobahadur S.K. Bole. The Shiv Sena held its first public meeting and its annual Dusshera rallies at Shivaji Park in Dadar and it is here that Bal Thackeray was cremated in 2012.

The party that wins Mahim will be able to strengthen its claim on the nativist legacy of Bal Thackeray.

Kudal, Kankavali and Sawantwadi

In 2005, then leader of the Opposition and former chief minister Narayan Rane quit the Shiv Sena and joined the Congress after a protracted battle for space with Uddhav Thackeray, who was the working president of the Sena. Rane's men took on Shiv Sainiks in pitched street battles in Mumbai and his home district of Sindhudurg on the Konkan coast. Rane defeated the Shiv Sena's Parshuram Uparkar from his Malvan seat despite Sena patriarch Bal Thackeray's campaign.

In 2014, Rane faced a massive setback after he was defeated in his constituency of Kudal by Vaibhav Naik of the Shiv Sena. Later, he was trounced by the Shiv Sena's Trupti Sawant from Vandre (East) in a bypoll. Now, Rane, who has joined the BJP, has been elected to the Lok Sabha from Ratnagiri- Sindhudurg, defeating two-term MP Vinayak Raut of the Shiv Sena (UBT).

Life seems to have full circle for the Ranes as his elder son Nilesh, a former MP, has joined the Shinde-led Shiv Sena to take on Naik from Kudal. In neighbouring Kankavali, younger brother Nitesh is looking for a hat-trick against Sandesh Parkar of the Shiv Sena (UBT). Thus, the Ranes and the Thackerays are locked in a grudge match from the two seats. The Shiv Sena (UBT) is focusing its attacks on what it says are the strong-arm tactics of the Ranes in the district.

In Sindhudurg, school education minister Deepak Kesarkar of the Shiv Sena is facing a challenge from the Sena (UBT)'s Rajan Teli, who was close to Rane and quit the Shiv Sena with him. He has now returned to Thackeray's fold. However, there is a multi-cornered fight in the seat as BJP leader Vishal Parab, who is close to PWD minister Ravindra Chavan, and NCP (SCP) leader Archana Ghare-Parab have rebelled. A section of old-time Shiv Sainiks is upset at "an original gaddar (traitor)"—reference to Teli—being deployed to take on a more recent "gaddar" (Kesarkar).

Dr Jayendra Parulekar, spokesperson, Shiv Sena (UBT), Sindhudurg, said the battle was against the "terror" unleashed by the Ranes and their workers in the district, and added that the people of the Konkan would stand by the party. However, former BJP MLA Pramod Jathar, who is the organisational coordinator for the Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg Lok Sabha seat, claimed they would win all three seats. He pointed to how the BJP and Rane won the Lok Sabha seat in times when the political mood was against the party and the Mahayuti.

Vandre East

In 2019, Congress candidate Zeeshan Siddiqui became a surprise winner in the Vandre East seat, where 'Matoshri,' the Thackeray family residence in Kalanagar, is located. The constituency that covers Bandra East in suburban Mumbai, has a strong middle and lower-middle class pocket apart from Muslim strongholds like Behrampada, and the upper classes in the business district of the Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC).

Though the chances of Siddiqui, who is the son of former Congress minister Baba Siddiqui, were bolstered by the rebellion of Shiv Sena MLA Trupti Sawant, who had been denied a nomination in favour of Vishwanath Mahadeshwar in 2019, Sena leaders had expressed surprise at the Congress candidate, a Muslim, picking up around 8,000 votes in a civic ward dominated by Marathi-speakers from the Konkan.

Now, Siddiqui is contesting as a candidate of the NCP, and pitted against him is Varun Sardesai, the Shiv Sena (UBT) nominee, and maternal cousin of Aaditya Thackeray. Sawant, who is the widow of former MLA Prakash (Bala) Sawant, is contesting as a MNS nominee. Siddiqui may get sympathy votes due to the murder of his father, allegedly by the members of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang.

The jury is still out on whether the Sena (UBT) will capture its former stronghold or the results of the 2019 battle will repeat itself in a triangular fight.