E-Paper
State leaders field family members in local body elections
Maharashtra's local elections see a rise in family candidates, raising concerns over dynasty politics despite leaders' claims of prioritizing party workers.
The final day for filing nominations for municipal council and nagar panchayat elections across Maharashtra saw a surge in family-linked candidates, with several senior leaders from the ruling alliance fielding their relatives for key posts. This comes even as chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar have, in the past few days, repeatedly said that local body polls belong to party workers and that they would be given priority.
The growing list of family nominees, however, undercuts those assurances and has revived questions over dynasty politics at the grassroots.
Local body elections in the state will be held in three rounds starting December 2.
In Jalgaon, Sadhana Mahajan, wife of cabinet minister Girish Mahajan, filed her nomination from the Jamner municipal council. In Chalisgaon, Pratibha Chavan, wife of BJP MLA Mangesh Chavan, entered the fray against NCP (SP) leader Rajiv Deshmukh’s family for the municipal council chairperson’s post.
A similar pattern emerged in other districts. In Yavatmal, Priyadarshani Uike, daughter of Tribal Development Minister Ashok Uike, filed her nomination. Labour Minister Akash Phundkar’s sister-in-law, Aparna Phundkar, is contesting from Khamgaon. Mohini Naik, wife of NCP leader and MoS Indranil Naik, entered the Pusad municipal council race, while former BJP MP Ramdas Tadas has fielded his wife, Shobha Tadas.
From the Shiv Sena (Shinde), Manisha Gore, wife of former MLA Suresh Gore, is contesting in the Chakan municipal council in Pune district.
BJP MLA Tanaji Mutkule from Hingoli has pushed the candidature of his son, Shivaji Mutkule. Defending his nomination, Shivaji said, “We held meetings with party workers at the block level to finalise candidates. They suggested my name every time, and after following all procedures, it was cleared.”
Opposition leaders were quick to criticise the ruling bloc. Raksha Khadse, head of the NCP (SP) women’s wing, said on X, “The attitude of those in power is: if we do it, it’s dynasty; if they do it, it’s politics.” She listed multiple examples of relatives of ruling-party leaders being given tickets across Jalgaon and neighbouring areas.
Political observers have noted that, despite frequent public criticism of dynasty politics, candidate selection at the local level continues to be heavily influenced by family connections, often at the cost of long-time party workers who had expected priority in these elections.
“With scrutiny of nomination papers underway, these family-driven nominations across Maharashtra signal dynasty politics will intensify as the multi-phase elections approach,” said Chitra Lele, professor of Political Science.
