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Varsha Eknath Gaikwad (born 3 February 1975) is an Indian politician serving as a member of parliament, Lok Sabha. She is the President of the Mumbai Regional Congress Committee. Earlier, she was a four term Member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly (MLA) represented the Dharavi Assembly Constituency in Mumbai (2004-2024). [1] [2] [3] [4] She served as the Cabinet Minister of Maharashtra from 30 December 2019 to 29 June 2022.
Gaikwad won the Mumbai North Central Lok Sabha constituency in the 2024 Lok Sabha election. She defeated BJP candidate Adv. Ujjwal Nikam. [5] She is one of the three Buddhist MPs in the 18th Lok Sabha. [6]
Varsha Gaikwad's father is Eknath Gaikwad, who was a three term Member of parliament. She belongs to an Ambedkarite Buddhist family. [10] [11] [12] [13] She was lecturer in Siddharth College of Arts, Science and Commerce, Mumbai. [14]
Eknath Gaikwad was an Indian politician from the Indian National Congress (INC) political party. He was a member of the 15th Lok Sabha and the 14th Lok Sabha of India. He died from COVID-19 in 2021.
Omprakash Babarao Kadu is a Founder of Prahar Janshakti Party and also a Member of the Legislative Assembly from Achalpur, Maharashtra, India. Achalpur assembly constituency is a part of Amravati. He has been elected to Maharashtra Legislative Assembly for four consecutive terms from 2004 to 2019. He is Currently President of Divyang Mantralaya ( Ministry) Maharashtra State
Eknath Khadse is a politician and leader of the Nationalist Congress Party in Maharashtra state. He was a Member of Legislative Assembly of Maharashtra from Muktainagar constituency for six consecutive terms till 2019. He was a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party from 1987 until his resignation in October 2020. He is a member of Legislative Council of Maharashtra.
Ajit Anantrao Pawar is an Indian politician serving as the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra along with Eknath Shinde under Devendra Fadnavis since 5 December 2024. He is the longest serving Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra non-consecutively. He has served this position for 6 terms within various governments. He has worked as deputy chief minister within the cabinets of Prithviraj Chavan, Devendra Fadnavis, Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde.
Ashok Shankarrao Chavan is an Indian politician from Maharashtra. He is the son of the late former Maharashtra Chief Minister Shankarrao Chavan. He was one of the most influential leaders of Indian National Congress in Maharashtra but joined Bhartiya Janata Party on 13 February 2024. He has served as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra state from 8 December 2008 to 9 November 2010. Also, he has served as Minister for Cultural Affairs, Industries, Mines and Protocol in the Vilasrao Deshmukh government and he is also the former PWD Minister of Maharashtra.
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.
Ujjwal Nikam is an Indian special public prosecutor who has worked on prominent murder and terrorism cases. He helped prosecute suspects in the 1993 Bombay bombings, the Gulshan Kumar murder case, the Pramod Mahajan murder case, and the 2008 Mumbai attacks. He was also the special public prosecutor in the 2013 Mumbai gang rape case, 2016 Kopardi rape and murder case. Ujjwal Nikam argued on behalf of the state during the 26/11 Mumbai attack trial.
Dharavi Assembly constituency is one of the ten constituencies of Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha located in the Mumbai City district.
Although a parliamentary democracy, Indian politics has increasingly become dynastic, possibly due to the absence of a party organization, independent civil society associations that mobilize support for the party, and centralized financing of elections. Family members have also led the Congress party for most of the period since 1978 when Indira Gandhi floated the then Congress(I) faction of the party. It also is fairly common in many political parties in Maharashtra. The dynastic phenomenon is seen from national level down to district level and even village level.The three-tier structure of Panchayati Raj established in the 1960s also helped to create and consolidate the dynastic phenomenon in rural areas. Apart from government, political families also control cooperative institutions, mainly cooperative sugar factories, district cooperative banks in the state, and since the 1980s private for profit colleges. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party also features several senior leaders who are dynasts. In Maharashtra, the NCP has particularly high level of dynasticism.
Ravindra Vishwanath Gaikwad is an Indian politician associated with Shiv Sena, and was a member of the 16th Lok Sabha of India from 2014 to 2019 as a member of that party. He did not contest Lok Sabha elections in 2019. In 2014, he had contested from Osmanabad constituency of Maharashtra, and defeated sitting MP Padamsinha Bajirao Patil who contested from Nationalist Congress Party by 235,325 votes by obtaining 607,699 votes against 373,374. Before 2014, he was a two time MLA from omerga constituency. He has also been the Chairman of Killari Sugar Factory. He is a director on the agriculture board committee in the Central Government of India. His son Kiran Ravindra Gaikwad lost the Zilla parishad Osmanabad election from kunhali constituency. The loss to prakash Ashte was widely discussed in media.
Eknath Sambhaji Shinde is an Indian politician who is serving as the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra since December 2024 alongside Ajit Pawar under Devendra Fadnavis. He is the chairperson of Shiv Sena since February 2023 and was the Chief Minister of Maharashtra from June 2022 to December 2024. 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.
Gulab Raghunath Patil is a politician and incumbent Water supply and Sanitation minister of the Maharashtra state. He is a Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA), the state's lower house representing rural Jalgaon constituency. He is a member of Shiv Sena party.
Girish Dattatray Mahajan is a politician from Jalgaon district of Maharashtra. He is the current MLA of Jamner taluka representing Jamner vidhan sabha constituency. He is a senior leader of Bharatiya Janata Party. Girish Mahajan is cabinet minister for Water resources ,Kumbhmela and Disaster Management of Maharashtra state.He is also the guardian minister of Nashik.
Arjun Panditrao Khotkar is an Indian politician from Ekanath Shinde's Shiv Sena. He was a MLA elected from Jalna in Marathwada as a member of Shiv Sena. He has been elected four times to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly for 1990, 1995, 2004 and 2014. On 25 November 2017, his 2014 election from Jalna constituency was declared void by Aurangabad Bench of Bombay High Court for filing his nomination papers after deadline has ended.
Uday Samant is an Indian politician and leader of Shiv Sena from Maharashtra. He is Cabinet Minister of Ministry of Industries (Maharashtra). He is current Member of Legislative Assembly from Ratnagiri. He has been elected to Vidhan Sabha for five consecutive terms in 2004, 2009, 2014, 2019 and 2024.
Abdul Sattar Abdul Nabi is an Indian politician from Maharashtra. He was briefly a minister in 2014 in the Congress government in Maharashtra. In 2019 he left Congress and joined Shiv Sena. He is a three term Member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly from the Sillod constituency. He served as the state's Cabinet Minister for Animal Husbandry.
Kapil Harishchandra Patil is an Indian politician and member of Indian National Congress. He was Founder and President of the Samajwadi Ganarajya Party till October 2024. He is a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council from Mumbai Teachers constituency from June 2006 to July 2024.
Madhukar Kashinath Pichad was an Indian politician, social worker and cabinet minister in Government of Maharashtra. He served as the Member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly from the Akole Assembly constituency from 1980 to 2009. He was leader of opposition in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly from March 1995 to July 1999.
Jyoti Eknath Gaikwad is an Indian politician from Maharashtra. She is a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly from 2024, representing Dharavi Assembly constituency as a member of the Indian National Congress.