Maharashtra polls heat up with family feuds across constituencies

Amid parties accusing rivals of promoting dynastic politics, the November 20 Maharashtra assembly polls will see brothers, cousins and father-children in the fray, with members of the same family taking on each other in some seats.

In one constituency, the battle is between husband and wife, while another seat has an uncle and nephew pitted against each other.

In the high stakes battle of Pawars, debutant Yugendra Pawar, the candidate of the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadcahndra Pawar, will take on his uncle and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, representing the Nationalist Congress Party, in Baramati seat.

Ajit Pawar has won the Baramati assembly poll seven times and also once bagged the Baramati parliamentary seat.

This is the second time that Baramati, the bastion of Pawars, will see a contest within the family.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the deputy CM's wife Sunetra Pawar was defeated by his cousin and NCP-SP leader Supriya Sule in the Baramati parliamentary seat.

In the neighbouring Karjat-Jamkhed, Rohit Pawar, another nephew of Ajit Pawar is in the fray as the NCP-SP candidate against Bharatiya Janata Party's Ram Shinde. Rohit is the grand-nephew of Sharad Pawar.

In the Kannad constituency in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, independent candidate Harshwardhan Jadhav is pitted against his estranged wife and Shiv Sena candidate Sanjana Jadhav, the daughter of BJP leader and former Union minister Raosaheb Danve.

Sanjana Jadhav's brother Santosh Danve is contesting from Bhokardan in Jalna as the BJP candidate.

Congress candidates Amit Deshmukh and Dhiraj Deshmukh, sons of former state chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, are in the poll race from Latur City and ajoining Latur Rural seats, respectively.

Similarly, Nitesh Rane and Nilesh Rane, sons of BJP MP and former Maharashtra chief minister Narayan Rane, are in the fray from Kudal and Kankavli constituencies as Shiv Sena and BJP nominees, respectively.

In Mumbai, the Thackeray cousins are in the fray from different seats.

While sitting Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray sitting MLA Aaditya Thackeray is re-contesting from Worli, his maternal cousin Varun Sardesai is contesting from Vandre (Bandra) East assembly seat on the party's ticket.

Aaditya's cousin Amit Thackeray, the son of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena head Raj Thackeray, is contesting from neighbouring Mahim seat in Mumbai.

Former Maharashtra minister Ganesh Naik is contesting from Airoli seat as a BJP candidate, while his son Sandeep is in the fray from the neighbouring Belapur constituency as NCP-SP candidate.

Similarly, Maharashtra minister Vijaykumar Gavit and his daughter and former MP Heena Gavit are also in the poll race.

While senior Gavit is contesting as the BJP candidate from Nandurbar seat, his daughter is in the fray from neighbouring Akkalkuwa constituency as an independent.

In Islampur, NCP-SP state chief Jayant Patil is in the fray, while his nephew and former Maharashtra minister Prajakt Tanpure is contesting from Rahuri on the party's ticket.

NCP minister Chhagan Bhujbal is contesting from Yevala, while his nephew and former MP Sameer Bhujbal is in the fray from Nandgaon seat as an independent.

BJP's Mumbai president Ashish Shelar is in the fray from Mumbai's Vandre (Bandra) West, a constituency known to be the home of several Bollywood personalities, while his brother and party candidate Vinod Shelar is contesting from Malad West.

BJP's Santukrao Hambarde is contesting the Nanded Lok Sabha bypoll, while his brother and sitting MLA Mohanrao Hambarde is contesting the assembly polls from Nanded South assembly seat as a Congress candidate.

The Nanded Lok Sabha byelection, necessitated due to the death of sitting Congress MP Vasantrao Chavan, is scheduled on November 20.