Mumbai The Maharashtra Assembly elections to be held on November 20 will see a contest between brothers, relatives and father-children on some seats, with political parties accusing rivals of promoting dynasty politics. In one constituency there is a contest between husband and wife while in another seat an uncle and nephew are contesting against each other.
In a high-profile contest between the Pawar family, Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (SP) candidate Yugendra Pawar is contesting from the Baramati seat against his uncle and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, representing the ruling NCP. Ajit Pawar has won the elections from Baramati assembly seat seven times and has also won the Baramati parliamentary seat once. This is the second time that Baramati, the stronghold of the Pawar family, will see a competition between families.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar’s wife Sunetra Pawar was defeated by her sister-in-law and NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) leader Supriya Sule from Baramati parliamentary seat. In neighboring Karjat-Jamkhed, another nephew of Ajit Pawar, Rohit Pawar, is contesting as the NCP (SP) candidate against Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Ram Shinde. Rohit Pawar is the grandson of Sharad Pawar.
In Kannada constituency of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, independent candidate Harshvardhan Jadhav is contesting against his estranged wife and Shiv Sena candidate Sanjana Jadhav. Sanjana is the daughter of BJP leader and former Union Minister Raosaheb Danve. Sanjana Jadhav’s brother Santosh Danve is contesting from Bhokardan in Jalna as a BJP candidate.
Congress candidates Amit Deshmukh and Dheeraj Deshmukh, son of former state Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, are contesting from Latur city and neighboring Latur Rural seat respectively. Similarly, Nitish Rane and Nilesh Rane, sons of BJP MP and former Chief Minister Narayan Rane, are contesting from Kudal and Kankavali as Shiv Sena and BJP candidates respectively.
Members of the Thackeray family are contesting elections from different seats in Mumbai. Shiv Sena’s (Uddhav Balsaheb Thackeray) sitting MLA Aditya Thackeray is contesting re-election from Worli while his aunt’s son Varun Sardesai is contesting from Vandre (Bandra) East assembly seat on the party ticket. Amit Thackeray, Aditya’s cousin and son of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray, is contesting from the neighboring Mahim seat in Mumbai.
Former Maharashtra minister Ganesh Naik is contesting from Airoli seat as a BJP candidate while his son Sandeep is contesting from the neighboring Belapur seat as an NCP (SP) candidate. Similarly, Maharashtra Minister Vijaykumar Gavit and his daughter and former MP Hina Gavit are also in the election contest. Minister Gavit is contesting from Nandurbar seat as a BJP candidate while his daughter is contesting from the neighboring Akkalkuwa assembly seat as an independent candidate.
NCP (SP) state chief Jayant Patil is contesting from Islampur while his nephew and former Maharashtra minister Prajakta Tanpure is contesting from Rahuri on the party ticket. NCP minister Chhagan Bhujbal is contesting from Yeola while his nephew and former MP Sameer Bhujbal is contesting from Nandgaon as an independent candidate. BJP Mumbai unit president Ashish Shelar is contesting the assembly elections from Mumbai’s Vandre (Bandra) West seat, while his brother and party candidate Vinod Shelar is contesting from Malad West.
Vandre West constituency is home to many Bollywood celebrities. BJP’s Santukrao Hambarde is contesting the by-election from Nanded Lok Sabha seat while his brother and sitting MLA Mohanrao Hambarde is contesting the assembly elections from Nanded South assembly seat as a Congress candidate. By-election on Nanded Lok Sabha seat has to be held due to the death of sitting Congress MP Vasantrao Chavan. Voting for the by-election on this seat will be held on November 20.
Disclaimer: Prabhasakshi has not edited this news. This news has been published from PTI-language feed.
