More than one-third of Maharashtra MLCs are from political families

Nearly one in three members of the Maharashtra Legislative Council (MLC) belongs to an established political family, underlining the enduring influence of dynastic politics in the state’s Upper House.

A review by The Indian Express of sitting and newly elected members shows that 24 of the 73 occupied seats — over 33% of the House — are held by leaders related to current or former MPs, MLAs, ministers or influential figures in cooperatives, education trusts and local bodies.

The Council has 78 sanctioned seats, with five currently vacant. Unlike the Legislative Assembly, whose members are directly elected, the Council has a multi-tiered electoral system. Members are elected by MLAs, graduates, teachers and local bodies, while some are nominated by the Governor.

These numbers stand out because Maharashtra is one of the few states with a Legislative Council, where members are not chosen only through direct elections. In reality, this system, which is meant to bring in a wider range of voices, often ends up keeping space open for those already connected to political circles.

The system was designed to broaden representation but, in practice, has also become a route for political families to retain their presence in government. The trend cuts across party lines. Of the 25 members with political family backgrounds, 9 belong to the BJP, 5 to the NCP and 1 NCP (SP), 5 to the Congress and 4 to the Shiv Sena and allied camps.

The latest Council elections have reinforced the pattern.

Among the new entrants are Aniket Tatkare, son of NCP state president Sunil Tatkare; Vikram Kakade, son of former Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Kakade; Prajakt Tanpure, son of former MP Prasad Tanpure and nephew of senior leader Jayant Patil; Zeeshan Siddiqui, son of late Congress leader Baba Siddiqui; and Dushyant Chaturvedi, son of former minister Satish Chaturvedi.

Across parties

Several of Maharashtra’s best-known political families continue to have representation in the Council. BJP leader Pankaja Munde is the daughter of late Union minister Gopinath Munde, while NCP leader Pankaj Bhujbal is the son of senior leader Chhagan Bhujbal. BJP’s Sandip Joshi is the son of former MLC Diwakarrao Joshi.

Congress MLC Satej Patil is the son of former Governor and educationist Dr D Y Patil, while Rajesh Rathod is the son of former MLA and MLC Dhondiram Rathod.

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A breakup of family members across political parties in the Council. (AI-generated graphic)

Others with political lineage include BJP’s Niranjan Davkhare, son of former Legislative Council Deputy Chairman Vasant Davkhare; Parinay Fuke, son of district leader Ramesh Fuke; Abhijit Wanjari, son of former MLA Govindrao Wanjari; Arun Lad, son of freedom fighter and cooperative leader G D Bapu Lad; Kiran Sarnaik, linked to the family of former minister Babasaheb Sarnaik; and newly elected BJP MLC Gokul Gite, whose brother Ganesh Gite is a former Standing Committee chairman of the Nashik Municipal Corporation.

The list also includes BJP MLC Vivek Kolhe, son of cooperative sector leader Bipindada Kolhe and grandson of former minister Shankarrao Kolhe, and BJP’s Yogesh Tilekar, whose family’s political presence in Pune began after his mother Ranjana Tilekar entered municipal politics.

Political legacy

Many of these families have remained influential for decades across electoral politics, cooperatives and educational institutions.

The Munde family continues to wield influence through Pankaja Munde and BJP MP Pritam Munde in Beed district of Marathwada, while the Tatkare family now has Sunil Tatkare as MP, Aditi Tatkare as a state minister and Aniket Tatkare in the Council in Raigad of Konkan.

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Pankaja Munde and Dhananjay Munde at Vidhan Bhavan in Mumbai. (Express File Photo by Ganesh Shirsekar)

The Bhujbal family has also retained its political presence in Nashik of North Maharashtra, with senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal followed by his son Pankaj Bhujbal, a two-term MLA who recently entered the Council.

Satyajeet Tambe inherited the Nashik Graduates constituency from his father, Sudhir Tambe, who represented the seat for several terms. He is also related to senior Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat.

Congress leader Vikram Kale, son of former MLC Vasantrao Kale, has represented the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Teachers constituency since 2010.

The Mohite-Patil family continue to represent two of western Maharashtra’s most influential political networks, with decades-long involvement in the area through assembly, Parliament, sugar cooperatives and local bodies.

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The Pawar family too continues to retain institutional presence. Sunetra Pawar, now Dy CM and part of the influential Pawar family, entered the Rajyasabha after losing the Lok Sabha election, extending the family’s representation across multiple political institutions. Later now became the MLC and sent her son Parth to Rajyasabha in her place.

A route back to power

The Council has increasingly become a political rehabilitation platform for leaders who lose direct elections but remain important to their parties.

Pankaja Munde entered the Council after losing the 2024 Lok Sabha election from Beed and was subsequently inducted into the state Cabinet.

Former Shiv Sena MPs Bhavana Gawali and Hemant Patil, who were denied Lok Sabha tickets by the Eknath Shinde-led Sena, were also accommodated in the Council.

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Zeeshan Siddiqui, who lost the Bandra East Assembly seat, returned to the legislature through the MLA quota by NCP.

Zeeshan Siddiqui. (Express File Photo by Ganesh Shirsekar)

For political parties, a Council seat provides a way to retain experienced leaders in public office and induct them into government without requiring another electoral victory.

Political observer and former senior journalist Hemant Desai said that, this shows that the whole politics of Maharashtra is controlled by the influential political families.

A graphic displaying the percentage of members from families occupying council seats. (AI-generated graphic)

“The council is in fact only in five states and it is considered as Upper House where the members are supposed to be experienced and from literary field and other diverse fields like lawyers, doctors and from cooperatives. But the pattern shows that while the Council was meant to widen representation beyond direct electoral politics, it has increasingly become a parallel institutional route through which established political families and entrenched power networks continue to retain influence across generations. It has also become a platform for the rehabilitation of the leaders who lost in elections,” Desai said.