The upcoming municipal council elections in Maharashtra have put a spotlight on the growing presence of political families in the fray, with several parties fielding multiple members of the same clan in the local body polls.
One of the most notable examples in this regard is from the Kulgaon-Badlapur Municipal Council in Thane district, where the Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, a key constituent of the Mahayuti alliance, has given tickets to six members of Waman Mhatre’s family. Mhatre, the Sena’s Badlapur city chief, is contesting along with his wife Veena. He is running for the post of the council president. His brother Tukaram, sister-in-law Usha, son Varun and nephew Bhavesh are also candidates from different panels.
This case has triggered a row even within the Sena for allowing one family to corner such a large share of tickets.
Some other political families, too, have secured multiple tickets in the Kulgaon-Badlapur Municipal Council election. The Shinde Sena has also fielded former councillor Pravin Raut, as well as his wife Sheetal Raut and sister-in-law Vijaya Raut in this poll.
The BJP’s candidate list also shows a similar pattern, with husband-wife duos of Ruchita and Rajendra Ghorpade, Sharad and Kavita Teli, and party general secretary Sambhaji Shinde and Urmila all contesting from different wards in the Kulgaon-Badlapur civic body poll.
According to some BJP workers, these selections reflect a growing belief among local party leaders that known family names carry “more weight” in small-town elections, especially when voter turnout depends on personal contacts and the local community’s influence.
A similar situation is seen in the elections to the neighbouring Ambernath Municipal Council. While the Shiv Sena has nominated former mayor Manisha Walekar for another term, her husband Arvind and son Nikhil have also been given tickets from nearby wards, allowing the family to contest from three areas of the city.
The BJP has nominated Tejashree Karanjule as its candidate for the mayor’s position besides giving tickets to her husband Abhijeet and mother-in-law Alpana in Ambernath.
Both the BJP and Sena have defended their decisions by saying that these candidates have been active in their local communities, though several of their activists maintain that such selections often crowd out ordinary members who have spent years working for their respective parties and building their bases.
A senior Sena leader, however, said that tickets have been distributed based on “winnability and merit”, and that there was no bias.
Another Mahayuti leader said that in every election some influential families tend to get tickets, and that this happens in all parties during the local body polls.
The trend is not restricted to the Mumbai Metropolitan Region.
Across Maharashtra, at least 29 candidates contesting these local body elections are relatives of prominent BJP leaders, including Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and several state ministers, while over a dozen dynastic nominees are from the Shinde Sena as well as the Deputy CM Ajit Pawar-led NCP.
In Jalgaon district, Water Resources Minister Girish Mahajan’s wife Sadhana Mahajan is contesting the Jamner Municipal Council election, while in Dhule district, Marketing Minister Jaykumar Rawal’s mother Nayan Kunwar Rawal was elected unopposed from the Dondaicha-Warwade Municipal Council after other nominations in her seat were withdrawn or rejected.
Similarly, in the Nagpur division, Aalhad Kaloti, a cousin of CM Fadnavis, also faced no opposition in his election from a seat in the Chikhaldara Municipal Council.
In district after district, including Bhusawal, Khamgaon, Chikhaldara, Deolali-Pravara, Ambad, Beed, Mohol, Solapur, Karad, Satara, Baramati, Purandar, Ambegaon, Rajgurunagar, Aurangabad, Hatkanangale, Shirala and Chiplun, the final candidate lists include wives, husbands, sons, daughters, brothers and sisters of current and former MLAs, MPs, municipal office-bearers and long-time party organisers, cutting across party lines.
Although senior political leaders have avoided speaking publicly about the rise of family-based poll nominations in the state, many grassroots workers privately acknowledge that the trend has become stronger over the last few election cycles.
“It is now common for local bodies to be seen as stepping stones for a political leader’s family members who may later contest Assembly or Lok Sabha elections,” said a Mahayuti functionary from Thane.
Some leaders also argue that “once a family becomes dominant in a municipal body, it becomes difficult for parties to deny them tickets in the future because the family’s network of supporters can influence internal decisions or shift loyalty to rival factions”.
The elections to the municipal councils and municipal panchayats are scheduled for December 2 across the state.