Maharashtra polls | Family ties at stake as parties bet big on political dynasts

With various political clans in the poll fray and parties opting to field dynasts in a number of constituencies, family ties are at stake in Maharashtra Assembly elections that will see brothers, cousins, uncle-nephew and father-children in the fray, with members of the same family taking on each other in some seats.

There is a slew of debutants in the fray who belong to various influential political families in the state. While the BJP, Congress, and NCP (SP) have each fielded at least 9 first-timer dynasts, the Shinde Sena, Uddhav Sena and Ajit Pawar-led NCP have fielded at least 8, 5 and one such faces respectively.

Mother of all battles

In the high stakes battle of Pawars, debutant Yugendra Pawar, the candidate of the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP), will take on his uncle and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, representing his NCP faction, in Baramati seat.

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Ajit Pawar has bagged the seat for seven times in the Assembly polls while he also won it once in the Lok Sabha elections.

This is the second time in less than 6 months that Baramati, the bastion of Pawars, will see a contest within the family. In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the Deputy CM Ajit Pawar’s wife Sunetra Pawar was defeated by his cousin and NCP (SP) leader Supriya Sule in the Baramati parliamentary seat.

In the neighbouring Karjat-Jamkhed, Rohit Pawar, another nephew of Ajit Pawar is in the fray as the NCP (SP) candidate against BJP’s Ram Shinde. Rohit Pawar is the grand-nephew of Sharad Pawar.

In Islampur, NCP (SP) state chief Jayant Patil is in the fray, while his nephew and former Maharashtra minister Prajakt Tanpure is contesting from Rahuri on the party's ticket.

NCP minister Chhagan Bhujbal is contesting from Yevala, while his nephew and former MP Sameer Bhujbal is in the fray from Nandgaon seat as an independent.

Husband vs wife in Kannad

In the Kannad constituency in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, independent candidate Harshwardhan Jadhav is pitted against his estranged wife and Shiv Sena (Shinde) candidate Sanjana Jadhav, the daughter of BJP leader and former Union minister Raosaheb Danve.

Sanjana Jadhav's brother Santosh Danve is contesting from Bhokardan in Jalna as the BJP candidate.

Sanjana had joined the Shinde faction of Shiv Sena just two days before the deadline for filing nominations for the Assembly polls came to an end amid reports of the party leaders objecting to “import” of politicians from the BJP to contest the elections.

Brothers in electoral arena

Congress candidates Amit Deshmukh and Dhiraj Deshmukh, sons of former Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, are in the electoral arena from Latur City and ajoining Latur Rural seats, respectively.

Similarly, Nitesh Rane and Nilesh Rane, sons of BJP MP and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Narayan Rane, are in the fray from Kankavli and Kudal constituencies as Shiv Sena and BJP nominees, respectively.

Nilesh Rane’s switch from the BJP to the Shiv Sena (Shinde) was planned in view of the seat-sharing arrangement in the ruling Mahayuti alliance, which designates the Kudal constituency to the Shinde Sena.

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Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar is in the fray from Mumbai's Vandre (Bandra) West, a constituency known to be the home of several Bollywood personalities, while his brother and party candidate Vinod Shelar is contesting from Malad West.

BJP's Santukrao Hambarde is contesting the Nanded Lok Sabha bypoll, while his brother and sitting MLA Mohanrao Hambarde is contesting the assembly polls from Nanded South assembly seat as a Congress candidate.

The Nanded Lok Sabha bypoll, necessitated due to the death of sitting Congress MP Vasantrao Chavan, is scheduled on November 20.

Thackeray cousins too in fray

In Mumbai, the Thackeray cousins are in the fray, though from different seats.

While sitting Shiv Sena (UBT) sitting MLA Aaditya Thackeray is re-contesting from Worli, his maternal cousin Varun Sardesai is contesting from Vandre (Bandra) East assembly seat on the party's ticket.

Aaditya's cousin Amit Thackeray, the son of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray, is contesting from neighbouring Mahim seat in Mumbai.

Father-children in poll fray

Like the Pawars in Baramati, the Atrams of Aheri royal family are engaged in a fierce poll battle. Aheri Assembly seat would witness a battle between four-time NCP (Ajit Pawar) MLA Dharmarao Baba Atram and his daughter Bhagyashree Atram-Halgekar, the candidate of NCP (SP).

Incidentally, Dharmaraobaba’s nephew Ambrishrao Atram, a former BJP minister, is also contesting as an Independent. Aheri is a Naxalite-infested tehsil-town in Gadchiroli district of Vidarbha region.

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Former Maharashtra minister Ganesh Naik is contesting from Airoli seat as a BJP candidate, while his son Sandeep is in the fray from the neighbouring Belapur constituency as NCP (SP) candidate.

Similarly, Maharashtra minister Vijaykumar Gavit and his daughter and former MP Heena Gavit are also in the poll race. While senior Gavit is contesting as the BJP candidate from Nandurbar seat, his daughter is in the fray from neighbouring Akkalkuwa constituency as an independent.

Preference to dynasts

Apart from the political families having more than one member in the poll fray, there are a number of political dynasts fielded by almost all the parties in the state.

The BJP has fielded former CM Ashok Chavan’s daughter Sreejaya Chavan from his Bhokar constituency in Nanded district. Chavan had quit the Congress to join the BJP earlier this year.

In Shrigonda seat in Ahliyanagar, the BJP has nominated Pratibha Pachpute, wife of sitting party MLA Babanrao Pachpute. Rahul Awade, son of former minister Prakash Awade, will contest as the BJP candidate from Ichalkaranji. In Latur city, the party has given ticket to Archana Patil-Chakurkar, daughter-in-law of Congress stalwart Shivraj Patil.

In the Jogeshwari east seat, the Shinde Sena has nominated Manisha Waikar, wife of Ravindra Waikar who won the Mumbai North West parliamentary seat in the recent Lok Sabha elections. The party gave ticket to Kiran Samant from the Rajapur seat, who is the brother of minister Uday Samant. Sitting Shinde Sena MLA Chimanrao Patil’s son Amol got the party ticket from his Erandol Assembly seat.

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The Congress too has given tickets to a number of first-timers coming from political families. In Saoner, former MLA Sunil Kedar’s wife Anuja is fighting on the Congress’s ticket. The party has fielded its Lok Sabha MP Pratibha Dhanorkar’s brother Pravin Kakade from Chandrapur’s Warora. Mumbai Congress chief Varsha Gaikwad’s sister Jyoti is contesting from the city’s Dharavi seat.

The Shiv Sena (UBT) has also given tickets to several new faces from various political families. The party has pitted Varun Sardesai, Uddhav’s nephew, from Bandra East against the NCP’s Zeeshan Siddique.

(With inputs from agencies)