Bal Keshav Thackeray, also known as Balasaheb Thackeray, was an Indian politician who founded the Shiv Sena, a right-wing pro-Marathi and Hindu nationalist party active mainly in the state of Maharashtra.
Shiv Sena is a right-wing Marathi regionalist and Hindu ultranationalist political party in India founded in 1966 by Bal Thackeray. Currently led by Eknath Shinde, this party is the ruling party of the Indian state of Maharashtra since 2019. Shiv Sena's election symbol is the Bow and Arrow. It uses the saffron colour in its flag and a image of a roaring tiger.
Sharadchandra Govindrao Pawar is an Indian politician. He has served as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra for four terms and has also served in the Union Council Of Ministers as the Minister of Defence in the Cabinet of P.V Narsimha Rao and Minister of Agriculture in the Cabinet of Manmohan Singh. He is the first and former president of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which he founded in 1999, after separating from the Indian National Congress. His NCP was split by his own nephew, Ajit Pawar. He leads the his facation NCP delegation in the Rajya Sabha, the upper chamber of the Indian parliament. He is the chairperson of Maha Vikas Aghadi, a regional Maharashtra-based political alliance.
The Nationalist Congress Party is one of the state parties in India. It refers to the Ajit Pawar faction after the 2023 split in the party when the SC granted the original party name and symbol to the Nationalist Congress Party. It was one of the major political parties in Maharashtra and was a recognised state party in Nagaland and Kerala. In July 2023, majority of the elected MLAs and MLCs of the party led by Ajit Pawar joined the National Democratic Alliance government, however, all MPs except two are expected to remain loyal to Sharad Pawar. This caused a direct split between the Ajit Pawar-led faction and the founder and president Sharad Pawar who formed the Nationalist Congress Party after EC recognised the Ajit Pawar faction as the original party.
The National Democratic Alliance is a centre-right to right-wing conservative Indian political alliance led by the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It was founded in 1998 and currently controls the government of India as well as the government of 17 Indian states and one Union territory.
The Samata Party (SAP) is a political party in India, initially formed in 1994 by George Fernandes and Nitish Kumar, is now being led by Uday Mandal as its National President. Samata Party once launched Nitish Kumar as the Chief Minister of Bihar. It was an offshoot of the Janata Dal, with the alleged casteism of the parent party being the reason given for the split. The party has socialist leanings; at one point, it wielded considerable political and social influence in North India, particularly in Bihar. In 2003, most Samata Party members joined Janata Dal (United). Only a faction led by MP Brahmanand Mandal remained in the Samata party and continued to use the party name and symbols.
Manohar Gajanan Joshi was an Indian politician from the state of Maharashtra, who served as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra from 1995 to 1999, and Speaker of the Lok Sabha from 2002 to 2004. He was one of the prominent leaders of the Shiv Sena, and also one of the Indians to be elected to all of the four legislatures.
Narayan Tatu Rane is an Indian politician and former Chief Minister of Maharashtra. He currently serves as Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in the Second Modi ministry. He has previously held Cabinet Ministry positions for Industry, Port, Employment and Self-employment; Revenue; and Industry in the Government of Maharashtra.
Uddhav Bal Thackeray is an Indian politician who served as the 19th Chief Minister of Maharashtra from 2019 to 2022 and the Leader of the House, Maharashtra Legislative Assembly from 2019 to 2022. He is a member of Maharashtra Legislative Council since 2020, the president of Maha Vikas Aghadi since 2019 and the president of Shiv Sena since 2022. He was also the leader (pramukh) of Shiv Sena from 2013 to 2022, working President from 2003 to 2013 and the editor-in-chief of Saamana from 2006 to 2019.
Although India is a parliamentary democracy, the country's politics has become dynastic or with high level of nepotism, possibly due to the absence of party organizations, independent civil-society associations which mobilize support for a party, or centralized financing of elections. The dynastic phenomenon is present at the national, state, regional, and district level. The Nehru–Gandhi family has produced three Indian prime ministers, and family members have largely led the Congress party since 1978. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also has several dynastic leaders. In addition to the major national parties, other national and regional parties such as Shiromani Akali Dal, Shiv Sena, Samajwadi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Janata Dal Secular, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Kerala Congress, Jammu & Kashmir National Conference, Indian Union Muslim League, AIMIM, and the Nationalist Congress Party are all dominated by families, mostly those of the party founders.
The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena is a Regionalist far-right Indian political party based in the state of Maharashtra and operates on the ideology of Hindutva and Marathi Manus. It was founded on 9 March 2006 in Mumbai by Raj Thackeray after he left the Shiv Sena party due to differences with his cousin Uddhav Thackeray, who later became the 19th Chief Minister Of Maharashtra and to his sidelining by the Shiv Sena in major decisions like distribution of election tickets.
Maharashtra is India's third largest state by area and has over 112 million inhabitants. Its capital, Mumbai, has a population of approximately 18 million; Nagpur is Maharashtra's second, or winter, capital. Government in the state is organized on the parliamentary system. Power is devolved to large city councils, district councils, subdistrict (taluka) councils, and village parish councils. The numerically strong Maratha–Kunbi community dominates the state's politics. The state has national and regional parties serving different demographics, such as those based on religion, caste, and urban and rural residents.
Arvind Ganpat Sawant is an Indian politician from the Shiv Sena UBT party. He had been the Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises since 2019 and a Member of Lok Sabha since 2014. On 11 November 2019, Sawant quit as union minister in Modi government due to ongoing power tussle between Bharatiya Janata Party and Shiv Sena in follow up to 2019 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly election.
Eknath Sambhaji Shinde is an Indian politician who is serving as the 20th and current Chief Minister of Maharashtra since 30 June 2022. He is also serving as the Leader of Shiv Sena since February 2023 and the Leader of the House, Maharashtra Legislative Assembly since July 2022. He is also the Member of Legislative Assembly for the Kopri-Pachpakhadi constituency of Thane, Maharashtra since 2009 and was formerly the MLA of Thane constituency from 2004 to 2009.
Karni Sena, known as Shri Rajput Karni Sena, is an organisation based in Rajasthan, India. Founded by Lokendra Singh Kalvi and led by Mahipal Singh Makrana, Vishwabandhu Singh Rathore and others. It takes its name from Karni Mata, who is believed to be incarnation of Hinglaj by her followers.
Rajendra Dhedya Gavit is an Indian politician and Shiv Sena politician. He is member of the 17th Lok Sabha (2019-2024) from Palghar. He was the tribal development minister in the Congress-NCP alliance government. In 2018 he joined BJP just before the by-poll to Palghar Lok Sabha seat, and won the election. In 2019, he joined BJP's alliance partner Shiv Sena as a tactical decision to contest from Palghar again.
The 2019 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly election was held on 21 October 2019 to elect all 288 members of the state's Legislative Assembly. After a 61.4% turnout in the election, the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena (SHS) won a majority. Following differences over the government formation, the alliance was dissolved, precipitating a political crisis.
The 2024 elections in India includes the general election and elections to the Rajya Sabha, to state legislative assemblies, to Panchayats and urban local bodies.
The 2022 Maharashtra political crisis began on 21 June 2022 in the Indian state of Maharashtra when Eknath Shinde, along with several other MLAs of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition moved to Surat in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-governed Gujarat, throwing the coalition into a crisis.
The Members of 14th Legislative Assembly of Maharashtra were elected in the 2019 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly election, with results announced on 24 October 2019.
Shiv Sena (2023)