Who is Vaishali Darekar-Rane, Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate for Kalyan Lok Sabha

MUMBAI: Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday named two-time municipal corporator Vaishali Darekar-Rane as the party’s candidate from the Kalyan parliamentary constituency currently represented by Shrikant Shinde.
“We are fielding a common citizen who is a housewife,” Thackeray said, announcing Vaishali Darekar-Rane the party’s candidate from the high-profile seat represented by the chief minister Eknath Shinde’s son. At the media briefing on Wednesday, he also declared the candidature of Satyajit Patil, Bharti Kamdi and Karan Pawar from Hatkanangale, Palghar, and Jalgaon constituencies, respectively.
Uddhav Thackeray’s party has so far declared candidates for 21 seats in Maharashtra, which will vote in five phases starting April 19.
Vaishali Darekar-Rane won her first election in 2000 when she became a municipal corporator of the Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation. After Raj Thackeray walked out of the Shiv Sena to form the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), she followed him.
Darekar-Rane previously fought the Lok Sabha election in 2009 when she was fielded as a Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) candidate and finished third, securing 1,02,063 votes. Anand Paranjpe who was then with the Shiv Sena, won the election.
Darekar-Rane went on to contest the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) elections and was elected to the civic body for the second time. She was appointed as the leader of the opposition in KDMC.
She did not contest again in 2015 due to the restructuring of electoral wards on account of a delimitation exercise. Darekar eventually returned to Shiv Sena in March 2016.
To be sure, the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena has not yet declared Shrikant Shinde as its candidate from Kalyan since the negotiations with the BJP are not over. The BJP has sought either the Kalyan or Thane Lok Sabha seats.