Assembly elections will take place in Maharashtra in one phase on November 20. With the approach of the election date, the election activities are on the rise in the state. The governing Mahayuti coalition and the opposition coalition Mahavikas Aghadi (MVA) have published manifestos and made numerous promises.
Nonetheless, dynasty appears to control the choice of candidates. In the Maharashtra assembly elections, there is competition among siblings, parents and their children, as well as among relatives for certain seats. Simultaneously, in a single constituency, a husband and wife are competing against one another. Meanwhile, on a different seat, there is a straightforward competition between uncle and nephew.
In a prominent election within the Pawar family, Yugendra Pawar, the candidate from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led by Sharad Pawar, is running for the Baramati seat against his uncle, Ajit Pawar, who is the Deputy Chief Minister and leader of the governing NCP. Ajit Pawar has secured the Baramati assembly seat on seven occasions and has additionally won the Baramati parliamentary seat a single time.
This marks the second occasion that an intra-family rivalry will be observed in Baramati, the bastion of the Pawar family. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Sunetra Pawar, the wife of Ajit Pawar, lost to her sister-in-law Supriya Sule, who is Sharad Pawar’s daughter, from the Baramati constituency.
In Karjat-Jamkhed, Ajit Pawar’s other nephew Rohit Pawar is running as a candidate for NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) against BJP’s Ram Shinde. Rohit is the grandson of Sharad Pawar.
Husband in Kannada seat of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and wife competing against one another Sanjana Jadhav from Shiv Sena is a candidate from the same constituency while her husband Harshvardhan Jadhav is running as an independent candidate in the election. Sanjana is contesting against BJP leader and former Union Minister Raosaheb Danve. The couple has a daughter. She currently resides apart from her husband. Meanwhile, Sanjana Jadhav’s sibling Santosh Danve in Jalna is running as a BJP candidate from Bhokardan.
Congress candidates Amit Deshmukh and Dheeraj Deshmukh, sons of ex-Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, are running from Latur city and the adjacent Latur rural seat, respectively. In a similar vein, Nitesh Rane and Nilesh Rane, offspring of BJP MP and former Chief Minister Narayan Rane, are running for election from Kudal and Kankavli as candidates for Shiv Sena and BJP, respectively.
In Mumbai, the Thackeray family members are running for election from various constituencies. Current MLA Aditya Thackeray from Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) is running again from Worli, while his maternal uncle’s son Varun Sardesai has received a ticket from the Uddhav faction for Bandra East, where he faces Baba Siddiqui’s son and current MLA Zeeshan Siddiqui, who is standing from the Ajit Pawar faction.
BJP’s Mumbai unit leader Ashish Shelar is running in the Assembly elections from the Bandra West seat, while his brother and party nominee Vinod Shelar is competing in Malad West.
Simultaneously, Amit Thackeray, son of Raj Thackeray who is the head of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and cousin of Aditya Thackeray, is running for office for the first time from the Mahim constituency in Mumbai.
NCP minister Chhagan Bhujbal is running for election in Yevla, while his nephew and ex-MP Sameer Bhujbal is standing as an independent candidate in Nandgaon. Ex-Maharashtra minister Ganesh Naik is running as a BJP candidate for the Airoli seat, while his son Sandeep is competing from the adjacent Belapur seat as an NCP (SP) candidate.
Likewise, Maharashtra minister Vijaykumar Gavit along with his daughter and ex-MP Hina Gavit are also participating in the elections. Minister Gavit is running for the Nandurbar seat as a BJP nominee, while his daughter is competing from the adjacent Aklakkuwa assembly seat as an independent candidate. NCP(SP) state head Jayant Patil is running for election from Islampur, while his nephew and ex-Maharashtra minister Prajakt Tanpure is competing for Rahuri on the party’s nomination.