Dynasty politics: Sons, daughters contesting at least 50 LS seats

From President Pranab Mukherjee's son Abhijit to Rahul and Varun Gandhi, at least 50 parliamentary constituencies will be contested by 'sons and daughters' of politicians of various parties during the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

Of these, a majority of candidates have been fielded from the ruling Congress party.

Abhijit Mukherjee, a sitting MP, is contesting on a Congress ticket from his present Jangipur (West Bengal) constituency while Rahul Gandhi and Varun Gandhi are fighting from Amethi and Pilibhit constituencies in Uttar Pradesh, respectively.

Congress Vice President Rahul is UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi's son and Varun is the son of Maneka Gandhi, a sitting Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Uttar Pradesh's Aonla constituency.

Sonia Gandhi, wife of former prime minister, the late Rajiv Gandhi, is contesting elections from the Rae Bareli parliamentary constituency.

BJP has this time fielded Varun from Sultanpur and his mother Maneka from Pilibhit. Maneka is the wife of the late Sanjay Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi's brother.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram's son Karti is in the poll fray from Tamil Nadu's Sivaganga constituency. Karti is making his debut in Lok Sabha elections from Sivaganga, which is represented by his father in the lower house of Parliament.

Senior BJP leader and former Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha's son Jayant is contesting from Hazaribagh constituency in Jharkhand. Yashwant Sinha is a Lok Sabha member from Hazaribagh.

Sons and Union Ministers of former Congress party leaders, who are no more, are also contesting upcoming Lok Sabha polls.

Jyotiraditya Scindia, son of the late Madhavrao Scindia, is contesting from Madhya Pradesh's Guna constituency. He is a Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Power.

Sachin Pilot, son of the late Rajesh Pilot, is contesting from Rajasthan's Ajmer constituency. Sachin is a Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Corporate Affairs.

Jitin Prasada, son of late Jitendra Prasada is contesting from Uttar Pradesh's Dhaurahra constituency. He is Minister of State for Human Resource Development.

Congress Rajya Sabha MP from Maharashtra and former Cabinet minister in UPA government Murli Deora's son Milind is contesting election from South-Mumbai constituency. Milind, minister of state for communication and information technology and also for Shipping, is a sitting MP from the same seat.

Also, Kerala Governor and former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit's son Sandeep, a sitting MP, is contesting on a Congress ticket from East Delhi constituency.

Haryana's Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda's son Deepender, also a sitting MP, is contesting from Rohtak constituency.

Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi's son Gourav is contesting from Kaliabor parliamentary constituency on a Congress ticket while Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh's son Abhishek is in the fray from Rajnandgaon.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje's son Dushyant is contesting from the Jhalawar seat in the state as a BJP candidate.

Former Congress Union minister and late actor Sunil Dutt's daughter Priya is fighting elections from Maharashtra's Mumbai-North-Central seat. Priya, a sitting MP, is facing BJP's Poonam Mahajan. Poonam is the daughter of former BJP leader and union minister, the late Pramod Mahajan.

Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Kalyan Singh's son Rajbir Singh is contesting from Etah on a BJP ticket.

In Delhi, former BJP Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma's son Parvesh Verma is contesting from West Delhi constituency.

It is not that only the main political parties like Congress and BJP are giving tickets to sons and daughters of their senior leaders, other regional parties are also following the 'dynasty politics' trend.

In Bihar, Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav's daughter Misha Bharati is contesting from the Pataliputra seat.

Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan's son Chirag is also contesting his maiden elections from Bihar's Jamui seat.

In Karnataka, Janata Dal (Secular) chief HD Deve Gowda's son HD Kumaraswamy is contesting from Karnataka's Chikkballapur seat. His father Deve Gowda is also in polls fray from Hassan seat, already represented by him in Lok Sabha.

Former Karnataka Chief Minister, the late S Bangarappa's daughter Geetha Shivarajkumar is contesting from Karnataka's Shimoga seat.

In Maharashtra, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule is contesting from Baramati seat. Sule, who represents the constituency in Lok Sabha, is contesting on Nationalist Congress Party ticket.

Nilesh Rane, a sitting MP, is contesting from Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg seat on a Congress ticket. Rane, a sitting MP, is the son of Maharashtra Industries Minister Narayan Rane.

In Haryana, Kuldeep Bishnoi, son of former state chief minister, the late Bhajan Lal, is contesting from Hisar. Bishnoi, a sitting MP, is fighting as the Haryana Janhit Congress party candidate.

Bishnoi is facing Dushyant Chautala from Indian National Lok Dal, who is the grandson of former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala.

Shruti Chowdhary, grand daughter of former Haryana chief minister, the late Chaudhary Bansi Lal, is contesting from Bhiwani-Mahendragarh seat. She is a Member of Parliament for the same constituency.

In Madhya Pradesh, Ajay Singh is contesting from Satna on a Congress ticket. He is the son of former human resource development minister and Madhya Pradesh chief minister late Arjun Singh.

Arun Yadav, sitting MP, is also contesting from the state's Khandwa seat on a Congress ticket. Arun is the son of former Madhya Pradesh deputy chief minister, the last Subhash Yadav.

In Uttar Pradesh, Congress candidate Imran Masood is contesting from the Saharanpur seat. He is the son of former Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha member Rasheed Masood, who was recently disqualified from Parliament after being found guilty by Supreme Court in a criminal case.

Parliamentarians in either house stand disqualified if they are convicted by a court in a criminal case, according to a Supreme Court judgement.

Imran Masood is in judicial custody for his hate speech in which he allegedly threatened to "chop" Narendra Modi "into pieces".

In Lakshawdeep, Hamdullah Sayeed is contesting from Congress. Hamdullah, a sitting MP, is son of former Parliamentarian, the late PM Sayeed.

In Assam, Sushmita Dev is contesting from the Silchar seat as a Congress candidate. She is the daughter of former union minister Santosh Mohan Dev.

Assam's Social Welfare Minister Akon Bora's son Manas Bora is contesting from Gawahati.

In Chhattisgarh, Deepak Karma, son of anti-Naxal movement 'Salwa Judum' leader the late Mahendra Karma is contesting from Bastar. Mahendra Karma, a renowned Congress leader, was killed in a naxal attack last year.

Civil Aviation minister Ajit Singh's son Jayant Chaudhary may again contest this year's election. Jayant is a sitting MP from Uttar Pradesh's Mathura constituency. His father and Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh, who is a Lok Sabha MP from Uttar Pradesh's Baghpat, is again fighting from the same seat.

Anurag Thakur, son of former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, is also likely to contest this year's election as a BJP candidate. Thakur is the sitting MP from Hamirpur.

Lok Sabha elections are scheduled to begin on April 7.

Image: BJP candidate from Sultanpur Varun Gandhi with his mother Maneka, who will contest from Pilibhit.