Vinay Katiyar is a politician and the founder-president of Bajrang Dal,the youth wing of the Hindu nationalist organisation Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) in India. He has served as an All India General Secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP),and as a Member of Parliament in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.
Manohar Gopalkrishna Prabhu Parrikar was an Indian politician and leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party who served as Chief Minister of Goa from 14 March 2017 until his death. Previously,he was Chief Minister of Goa from 2000 to 2005 and from 2012 to 2014 and from 2017 to 2019. He also served as the Minister of Defence from October 2014 to March 2017. In January 2020,he was posthumously awarded Padma Bhushan.
Shankersinh Vaghela is an Indian politician and former Chief Minister of Gujarat from. He was also the Leader of Opposition in 13th Gujarat Legislative Assembly.
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 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) also has several dynastic leaders. In addition to the major national parties,other national and regional parties such as Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK),Shiromani Akali Dal,Shiv Sena,Samajwadi Party,Rashtriya Janata Dal,Janata Dal Secular,Jharkhand Mukti Morcha,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.
Sunder Lal Patwa was an Indian politician,who served as the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh and a cabinet minister in the Government of India. He was Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh twice,from 20 January 1980 to 17 February 1980 and from 5 March 1990 to 15 December 1992.
Ramdas Bandu Athawale is an Indian politician,social activist and trade unionist from Maharashtra. He is the president of the Republican Party of India (A),a splinter group of the Republican Party of India and has its roots in the Scheduled Castes Federation led by Dr. B. R. Ambedkar since 1999. Currently,he is the Minister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment,Government of India since 2016 and represents Maharashtra in Rajya Sabha,the upper house of India's Parliament since 2014. Previously,he was Lok Sabha MP from Pandharpur from 1999 to 2009 and from Mumbai North Central Lok Sabha constituency from 1998 to 1999. He was also Cabinet minister of Maharashtra from 1990 to 1995 and a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council from 1990 to 1996.
Satya Pal Singh Baghel is an Indian politician and Member of Parliament (Loksabha). A member of Bharatiya Janata Party,he got elected to 17th Lok Sabha from Agra and again to 18th Lok Sabha from the same constituency. He previously was a member of Samajwadi Party,in which he got elected to Lok Sabha thrice and to Rajya Sabha once as a member of Bahujan Samaj Party.
Sarbananda Sonowal is an Indian politician who has served as Minister of Ports,Shipping and Waterways since 2021. He also has been the Member of the Rajya Sabha representing Assam since 2021 and also a member of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs since 2021. He previously served as the 14th Chief Minister of Assam from 2016 to 2021 and as a member of Assam Legislative Assembly for Majuli from 2016 to 2021 and for Moran from 2001 to 2004. Sonowal earlier served as the Assam state unit President of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from 2012 to 2014 and again from 2015 to 2016. He also served as the Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs,Government of India,from 2014 to 2016 and the Minister of State for Entrepreneurship and Skill Development from 2014 to 2014 and the member of the Lok Sabha from Lakhimpur from 2014 to 2016 and from Dibrugarh from 2004 to 2009. He was also the member of the Asom Gana Parishad from 2001 to 2011.
Olanchery Rajagopal is an Indian politician,former Union Minister of State,and the former MLA from Nemom and the first Bharatiya Janata Party member &its floor leader in the Legislative Assembly of Kerala. One of the major leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party from Kerala,he has held various ministerial portfolios including Defence,Parliamentary Affairs,Urban Development,Law,Justice,Company Affairs,and Railways. Rajagopal was a two-time MP in Rajya Sabha,the upper house of Indian Parliament from 1992 till 2004. O.Rajagopal was also a member of Government of Kerala's Legislative Assembly Committee on Petitions &Committee of Public Work,Transport and Communications.Rajagopal has been honored with the Padma Bhushan,the third-highest civilian honor in the country,on the eve of India’s 75th Republic Day. The award recognizes his contributions in the public sphere.
Shantaram Laxman Naik was an Indian politician from Indian National Congress party and a former Member of the Parliament of India representing Goa in the Rajya Sabha. He was the President of the Goa Pradesh Congress Committee and the whip of the Indian National Congress in the Rajya Sabha.
Surendrajeet Singh Ahluwalia is an Indian politician of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP),and a senior Member of Parliament in his 32nd year as a Parliamentarian.
Prakash Keshav Javadekar is an Indian politician and former parliamentarian. He served as the Minister of Environment,Forest and Climate Change two times,from May 2014 to July 2016 and from May 2019 to July 2021.
Nand Kishore Singh is an Indian politician,economist and former Indian Administrative Service officer. He is a senior member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) since March 2014 after having served as a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha (2008-2014) from Bihar for the Janata Dal (United). He has been a senior bureaucrat,Member of the Planning Commission and handled assignments of Union Expenditure and Revenue Secretary. He was also Officer on Special Duty to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Purushottam Kesava Kakodkar was a prominent politician and social worker from Goa. He served as a Member of Parliament in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
Kambhampati Hari Babu is an Indian politician and the current Governor of Mizoram,being the first person from divided Andhra Pradesh and first Telugu person serving as Governor of Mizoram in North East India. He was a member of parliament to the 16th Lok Sabha from Visakhapatnam,Andhra Pradesh. He won the 2014 Indian general election being a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate. He is former state unit President of Bharatiya Janata Party for Andhra Pradesh.
Swami Sachchidanand Hari Sakshi Ji Maharaj,also known as Sakshi Maharaj,is an Indian political and religious leader belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party. He won the 2014 general election from Unnao,Uttar Pradesh. He also won Indian general election in 1991 from Mathura,1996 and 1998 from Farrukhabad. He was also a member of Rajya Sabha from 2000 to 2006,before being suspended for corruption. He holds a Ph.D. degree and runs various educational institutions and ashrams across India under the banner of Sakshi Maharaj Group for which he is also serving as its present director.
Vinay Prabhakar Sahasrabuddhe is an Indian politician. He was a Member of the Parliament of India and represented the state of Maharashtra in the Rajya Sabha from 2016-22. He has also served as National Vice President of Bharatiya Janata Party from August 2014 –September 2020. Dr. Sahasrabuddhe,since 2018 has been appointed as President of Indian Council for Cultural Relations. He is known as a political scholar and an occasional columnist. He is the Vice Chairman of Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini,a research and training academy for elected representatives &social activists. As Member of Parliament,he has also served as the Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education,Women,Children and Youth &Sports. He is regarded as one of the foremost intellectuals from the BJP,the ruling party in the Central Government and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS),a Hindu Nationalist organization.
Vellamvelly Muraleedharan is an Indian politician from Kerala who served as Minister of State for External Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs of India from 2019 to 2024. He was the eighth State President of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Kerala. He was also a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha. He was sworn in as a Union Minister on 30 May 2019. On 12 June 2019,Muraleedharan was appointed Government Deputy Chief Whip in the Rajya Sabha.
Elections were held in India on 21 July and 8 August 2017 as nomination contests by state legislators routinely for ten members of the Rajya Sabha across three states,replacing those who retired in July and August 2017. The State Legislatures which contribute in this six-year minor elections/nomination cycle are Goa,Gujarat and West Bengal. The mechanism is the single transferable vote (STV) among legislators,meaning nominations may be unopposed contests. The open ballot is used rather than secret ballot,allowing public scrutiny.
