Family ties have once again dominated the selection of candidates by all major parties for the 2024 assembly election in Maharashtra. Surprisingly, though not many such contestants have been able to win, their ability to spend money and command an army of hangers on highlights the continuing influence of dynasties in politics. Whereas 61 constituencies had more than one dynastic candidates, ten constituencies had three and one had four nominees, vying for the same seat.
Although no party will openly accept that it is under the dynastic pressures, many candidates having such family connections in prominent political families as well as in minor players were found all over in the assembly election. They were present in a majority of the constituencies across all regions of the state.
But political connections did not guarantee success as many such candidates lost. For instance, the muscleman of Vasai, Hitendra Thakur, and his son Kshitij, lost. Both were members of the previous house. Hitendra, known locally as Appa, is a noted don, who was trounced by a woman opponent. This spirited battle has shown how some families retained their legacies while some others have faded out. In case of Vasai, nobody had predicted such an outcome. BJP’s Sneha Dube Pandit polled 93745 votes to defeat Thakur by a margin of 3153 votes.
The Congress party is the frontrunner in the practice of selecting family members and relatives of influential leaders as candidates. Not to be outdone, the Bharatiya Janata Party, too, has not lagged behind this time. BJP’s many contestants have close ties with political families. In this election, there were 237 constituencies out of 288 (over 80 percent) which had candidates from political families. They included sons and daughters, wives and husbands, brothers and sisters or other close relatives of former and sitting MLAs, MPs and ministers, besides a few government officials, who had taken retirement on the eve of the election.
The Nationalist Congress Party led by veteran Sharad Pawar had been formed by his walking out of the Congress party. But the so-called Congress culture has followed. His NCP faction had the highest number of dynastic leaders as candidates. His party fielded 86 candidates and almost half of them had some or other connection with entrenched politicians.
Sharad Pawar’s nephew Ajit Pawar has emerged as the ‘real’ NCP supremo after the poll results. He fielded 59 candidates, almost 40 percent of them had family connections. While the elder Pawar chose his grandson Yugendra to take on Ajit, several others were selected with similar considerations.
In Kannad constituency in Sambhaji Nagar district in Marathwada, Sena (Shinde) candidate Sanjana Jadhav defeated her husband by more than 18000 votes. Sanjana is the daughter of BJP leader Raosaheb Danve. She has been estranged from husband Harshvardhan Jadhav who contested as an independent. He is the son of former MLA Raibhan Jadhav, who was a government official before joining politics. In fact, Danve’s electoral victories are remarkable. His son BJP’s Santosh Danve Patil has won from Bhokardan, defeating NCP’s (SP) Chandrakant Danve by over 23000 votes. In Aheri in Vidarbha’s Gadchiroli district, minister Dharamrao Baba Atram of NCP (Ajit) defeated his daughter Bhagyashri Atram of NCP (Sharad).
According to final election results, there were 237 dynastic candidates. Of them, 89 were elected. Keeping to the general trend, most unsuccessful candidates were from the three-party opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) combine, formed by the Congress, the Sena (UBT) and the NCP (SP).
The Congress fought in 101 constituencies with 42 having some family connection. The BJP had 149 nominees, the highest number among all parties. Of them, nearly 50 had been selected on the basis of their relationship with political leaders.
The Shiv Sena factions, led by Uddhav Thackeray and chief minister Eknath Shinde, showed a somewhat less dynastic representation in their selection of candidates. The Sena (UBT) fielded 19 such candidates in its list of 95. The Sena under Eknath Shinde had 19 such nominees while it contested in 81 constituencies. Shinde’s son Dr Shrikant has been reelected to the Lok Sabha.
The regional distribution of dynastic candidates showed that the so-called progressive Western Maharashtra had the highest number of such family connections. It had 77 dynastic candidates, followed by Vidarbha with 49, Marathwada with 39, North Maharashtra with 38 and Mumbai-Konkan with 34 such contestants. In the Mumbai-Konkan belt, former chief minister Narayan Rane’s both sons have been elected to the assembly, though from two different but friendly parties. Rane himself has been elected to the Lok Sabha. Thus, the existence of the Sena (UBT) and the Congress has been obliterated by Rane’s family, which has retained their stronghold in the Konkan. One son Nitesh of the BJP has been reelected from Kankavali, defeating Sena (UBT) rival Sandesh Parkar by over 58000 votes. His elder brother Nilesh fought on Sena (Shinde) ticket and was victorious in Kudal. He has defeated Vaibhav Naik of the Sena (UBT) by 7000 votes.
Former chief ministers, late S.B.Chavan and his son Ashok, continue to wield the family clout even after Ashok has joined the BJP. His daughter Sreejaya Chavan, of the BJP, has started her political career in Nanded district with a bang. She has won the family citadel Bhokar constituency by over 50000 votes against Tirupati Kondekar of Congress. In Marathwada, the other lucky family is of Lok Sabha member Sandipan Bhumre. His family has consolidated its influence in Paithan, where Sena (Shinde) candidate Vilas Bhumre has defeated Datta Gorde of the Sena (UBT) by over 29000 votes. Similarly, sitting MLA Dheeraj Deshmukh (Congress), younger son of former chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, lost in Latur Rural constituency.
Those representing the trend include Mumbai’s Jyoti Gaikwad. She is the daughter of former Congress MP and minister late Eknath Gaikwad and sister of sitting MP Varsha Gaikwad, president of Mumbai Congress now. Jyoti has won Dharavi seat by a huge margin against Sena (Shinde) nominee Rajesh Khandare. Similarly, NCP (Ajit) leader Nawab Malik’s daughter, Sana Malik, has won in Mumbai’s Anushakti Nagar by defeating NCP’s Fahad Ahmad (SP). However, Malik himself has lost to Samajwadi Party’s Abu Azmi.
There are some notable losers, too. This shows that not all family legacies have been successful. For instance, Raj Thackeray’s son Amit, of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has lost in Dadar—Mahim to the Sena (UBT) candidate Mahesh Sawant. Ranjit Shinde, son of NCP MLA Baban Shinde, was defeated in Madha, ending a family monopoly.
In short, the results have reflected a mixture of responses for political dynasties. While some could cling to their strongholds, others have been dumped by the electorate. Taking stock of the situation, the political parties will have to start preparations for the local body elections, expected to be held early next year.
A Column By
Dilip Chaware – Senior Editor
A media professional for 43 years, with extensive experience of writing on
a variety of subjects; he is also a documentary producer and book author.
