It's All in the Family Across Political Parties in New Maharashtra Assembly

Mumbai: Political families in Maharashtra retained their turfs in recently concluded elections to the 14th Legislative Assembly in Maharashtra with several relatives of prominent leaders getting elected as MLAs.

The NCP's Baramati MLA and former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, nephew of Maratha strongman Sharad Pawar, will have nephew Rohit Pawar for company. The youngster beat BJP's sitting MLA and minister Ram Shinde from Karjat Jamkhed.

Ajit Pawar's wife Sunaetra's nephew Ranajagjitsinha Patil has been elected from Tuljapur on a BJP ticket. Brothers Amit and Dhiraj Deshmukh, sons of Latur strongman and former Congress chief minister late Vilasrao Deshmukh, have been elected from Latur City and Latur Rural seats, respectively.

Another kith and kin saga for the NCP is Baban Shinde, who retained his Madha seat, and younger brother Sanjay Shinde who won from Karmala as an NCP-backed Independent in Solapur

district.

The Sharad Pawar-led party's senior leader Chhagan Bhujbal retained Yeola seat in Nashik district though his son Pankaj tasted defeat in Nandgaon constituency.

In Parli, sitting MLA and minister Pankaja Munde was trounced by her cousin and senior NCP leader Dhananjay Munde. In Nashik West, Seema Hiray defeated her relative Apoorva Hiray of NCP.

The fight in Nilanga was between BJP minister Sambhaji Patil Nilangekar and his uncle Ashok Nilangekar, the Congress candidate. Sambhaji Patil Nilangekar defeated his uncle.

Another such fight was in Beed where NCP's Sandeep Kshirsagar beat uncle and minister Jaydutt Kshirsagar. However, in a reverse, Dharmarao Atram of NCP won from Aheri defeating his nephew Ambrish Atram of BJP.

Among the new generation leaders who stepped in to carry forward the family legacy, Aditi, daughter of NCP leader Sunil Tatkare, won from Shrivardhan, while Praniti Shinde, daughter of senior Congressman Sushilkumar Shinde, managed to retain her Solapur City Central seat for the third time in a row.

In Pusad, NCP leader Manohar Naik's son Indranil defeated cousin Nilay contesting on a BJP ticket. In Dapoli, Yogesh, son of Shiv Sena minister Ramdas Kadam, won, while in Vikhroli in Mumbai, Sunil Raut, brother of Sena Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut, emerged winner.

For the Bahujan Vikas Aghadi, father-son duo Hitendra Thakur and Kshitij Thakur won from Vasai and Nalasopara respectively.

The state also has its fair share of father-son combinations where one is MP and the other MLA. Shiv Sena leader and minister Eknath Shinde retained his Khopri Pachpakdi seat in Thane. His son Shrikant is MP from Kalyan.

In Kankavli, Nitesh Rane retained his seat while father Narayan Rane is BJP MP.

Santosh Danve retained his Bhokardan seat while his father Raosaheb Danve, a Union minister, is MP from Jalna.

Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil won his Shirdi seat while son Sujay Vikhe Patil is the BJP MP from Ahmednagar.

The MLA-MP combination was also seen among a couple of husbands and wives.

Independent candidate Ravi Rana retained his Badnera Assembly seat. His wife, Navneet Rana, is a Lok Sabha MP from Amravati.

Pratibha, the wife of Suresh Dhanorkar, the Congress lone Lok Sabha MP from the state, managed to win from Warora.

Rahul Narvekar won the Colaba seat on a BJP ticket, while his father-in-law Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar is the chairman of the Legislative council and NCP leader.

Vishwajit Kadam,son of congress leader late Patangrao Kadam, won from Palus Kadegaon.