MUMBAI, NAVI MUMBAI, THANE:
Political dynasties are here to stay – this is clear from the list of candidates in the fray from the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) for the forthcoming civic polls.
While relatives of established politicians have got tickets from almost all prominent political parties, three families stand out in Mumbai. Three relatives of Rahul Narwekar, BJP MLA from Colaba, and speaker of Maharashtra assembly, are in the fray. Likewise, members of Congress MLA from Malad, Aslam Shaikh’s family; and that of Nawab Malik, senior NCP leader, have been fielded by the respective parties.
Be it Narwekar (Colaba), Shaikh (Malad) or Malik (Kurla), the influential leaders not wanting to lose an inch to rivals, prefer to keep the power within the family, which has been achieved by compelling their parties to give tickets to their relatives.
Family networks, long political memories and carefully managed party shifts have emerged as decisive factors in the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) elections, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiv Sena fielding multiple members from the same households across key wards. In several constituencies, two or more members of the same family are contesting on party tickets.
In corporations other than BMC, the multi-modal panel system has been introduced for the polls. NMMC, for instance, is divided into 28 multi-member panels instead of single wards. Voters will elect a total of 111 corporators — 27 panels will have four corporators each, while one panel will have three, marking Navi Mumbai’s first civic election under this structure. This has been brought into force for integrated development of a larger area apart from collective leadership for solving issues.
MUMBAI
The Narwekars
Party: BJP
Political hub: Colaba (Wards: 225,226,227)
Speaker of the legislative assembly, BJP MLA Rahul Narwekar is serving his second term in this capacity. Narwekar began his career in the undivided Shiv Sena, served as a spokesperson for the party for a few years, and remained in the party for 15 years, till he joined the undivided NCP in 2014. He unsuccessfully contested the Maval Lok Sabha seat that year, although the party sent him to the legislative council in 2016. He joined the BJP in 2019 to contest the Assembly election from Colaba.
In January 2024, Narwekar delivered the decision of the split in Shiv Sena and termed the party led by Eknath Shinde as the real Sena. His father Suresh Narwekar, a businessman, was a BMC corporator.
Makrand, his brother, and Harshita, his sister-in-law, are two- and one-term councillors respectively, while Gauravi Shivalkar, Narwekar’s cousin, is a debutant. After Makarand and Harshita’s wards (227 and 226) were reserved for women and OBC, the two changed their wards. Gauravi has now been fielded from Makarand’s earlier ward — 227 — which has now been reserved for women.
Rahul Narwekar is facing charges of putting pressure on the candidates from the opposition, preventing them from filing nominations by using his official position as the speaker. Harshita is facing a tough fight in ward 225 as Shiv Sena has put up Sujata Sanap against her. It is a traditional Sena seat, with a sizeable vote bank.
The Shaikhs
Party: Congress
Political hub: Malad (Wards 33, 34, 62)
The Shaikh family is led by Aslam Shaikh, a four-term Congress MLA from the Malad West assembly constituency. He comes from an influential family that has maintained a political hold over the Malad area for several decades. Aslam’s father Ramzan Ali Shaikh was also a corporator in the 1990s; and he himself was a corporator, first elected in 2002 and again in 2007, before becoming an MLA in 2009.
He has now fielded his son Haider from ward 34 in Malad. His sister Qumar Jahan Siddiqui will contest from the neighbouring ward 33 in the same suburb, which will ensure the family’s dominance at the ward level. Qumar Jahan is a former corporator while Haider is debuting in electoral politics. Another young face from the Shaikh family is Aslam’s son-in-law Saif Ahad Khan, who will debut from ward 62 in Versova.
The Maliks
Party: NCP
Political hub: Kurla (Wards 165, 168, 170)
The Malik family is headed by senior NCP leader Nawab Malik. He is a five-term MLA covering two areas — Nehru Nagar (Kurla) and Anushakti Nagar (Chembur). One of the most well-known faces in Maharashtra politics, he has been a vociferous critic of the BJP and its government at the Centre before the split in the NCP. In October 2021, he made national headlines by launching a scathing attack on the then NCB zonal director Sameer Wankhede over a drug bust case involving Aryan Khan, son of Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan, in Cordelia Cruise.
The family has influence in Kurla and surrounding areas as Nawab’s sister Saeeda Khan and brother Kaptan Malik, both are former corporators. NCP has decided to field both once again from ward numbers 165 and 168 respectively. This time, another family member Bushra Malik who is Kaptan’s daughter-in-law has been chosen to contest from ward number 170. Malik’s daughter Sana is also an MLA from the Anushakti Nagar assembly constituency.
Malik unsuccessfully contested the assembly polls from the Mankhurd-Shivaji Nagar seat.
NAVI MUMBAI
The Naiks
Party: BJP
Political hub: Kopar Khairane (Ward 13)
The Naik family, led by Ganesh Naik, is the most influential political dynasty in Navi Mumbai. The family is led by Ganesh Naik, forest minister in the BJP-led Mahayuti government and the acknowledged strongman of Navi Mumbai politics. Over more than three decades, the family has traversed successive platforms—Shiv Sena (pre-1999), the undivided Nationalist Congress Party (1999–2019) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (from September 2019)—while retaining near-total civic influence.
In Ward 13, the BJP has fielded Sagar Dnyaneshwar Naik, a former mayor and Ganesh Naik’s nephew, along with Aditi Liladhar Naik and Vaishnavi Vaibhav Naik. Aditi belongs to the extended family—her father is Ganesh Naik’s cousin—while Vaishnavi is Ganesh Naik’s nephew Vaibhav’s wife. Key members of the family in the poll fray underscores the use of both direct and extended kinship to retain ward-level dominance.
The Bhagats
Party: BJP
Political hub: Vashi–Sanpada-Palm Beach Road (Ward 18)
Like the Naiks, Ward 18 reflects a similar consolidation from the Bhagat family. Dashrath Sitaram Bhagat, a former Navi Mumbai Congress president and ex-leader of the Opposition in the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC), now anchors the BJP panel. He is joined by his nephew Nishant Karsan Bhagat, a former Navi Mumbai Youth Congress president, and Preeti Sandeep Bhagat, Nishant’s sister-in-law.
The cluster—uncle, nephew and nephew’s wife—highlights how extended kinship is leveraged within a single ward panel. The family joined the BJP in October 2019, within weeks of Ganesh Naik’s induction, mirroring the wider migration of Congress-era civic leadership. Despite the shift, the Bhagats retain a strong grassroots base in Vashi gaon and among project-affected populations, extending into the Sanpada–Palm Beach Road belt through sustained engagement with housing societies and youth sports networks.
The Medhkars
Party: BJP
Political hub: Turbhe (Ward 20)
In Turbhe, the BJP has fielded a full family panel from the Medhkar household—Amit Amrit Medhkar and his brother Ankush Amrit Medhkar, along with Sujata Amit Medhkar, Amit’s wife. Traditionally aligned with the NCP—Amit’s father Amrut Medhkar was a corporator—the family followed Ganesh Naik to the BJP in 2019.
Their influence rests on sustained civic activism and deep engagement across Turbhe’s industrial and slum zones, reinforcing a tightly held ward-level base.
The Madhavis
Party: Shiv Sena
Political hub: Airoli (Wards 4 and 5)
Manohar Krishna Madhavi, popularly known as M K Madhavi, was once a close Ganesh Naik loyalist before breaking away during Naik’s NCP phase to join the Shiv Sena in 2015. He stayed with the Uddhav Thackeray faction after the party split, till a month ago.
A four-time former corporator, Madhavi faced prolonged legal trouble which included his externment — an order later set aside by the court — and arrest in an alleged extortion case. Madhavi has alleged both actions were politically motivated as he had aligned with Sena (UBT).
In December 2025, he formally joined the Eknath Shinde–led Shiv Sena with his family. His wife Vinaya Madhavi and daughter-in-law Tejashree Madhavi are contesting the civic elections, while his son Karan Madhavi has joined the party but is not in the fray.
The Gavtes
Party: BJP
Political hub: Digha (Wards 1 and 2)
In Ward 2, the BJP has fielded former corporators Navin Moreshwar Gavte and his wife Aparna Navin Gavte as a husband–wife pair. In Ward 1, Deepa Rajesh Gavte—Navin’s sister-in-law and a former corporator — is contesting from BJP.
A Digha strongman, Navin Gavte has long been regarded as a Ganesh Naik loyalist, though the family has seen repeated party switches. After following Naik into the BJP in September 2019, the Gavtes quit in late 2020 to join the Shiv Sena. In July 2022, Navin and Aparna Gavte returned to the BJP.
Despite courting controversies related to illegal constructions in Digha, the Gavtes retain a strong local base.
The Chougules
Party: Shiv Sena
Political hub: Airoli (Wards 1, 2 and 5)
The Chougule family remains one of Airoli’s most entrenched political lineages and a long-standing counterweight to the Naik camp. The family is led by Vijay Chougule, a Shiv Sena upneta and local strongman who broke with Ganesh Naik in 2006 following a bitter fallout soon after the political entry of Naik’s younger son, Sandeep Naik. Chougule quit the NCP in 2006, joined the Shiv Sena, rose to become zilla pramukh, and aligned with Eknath Shinde after the party split in 2022.
A multiple-term corporator, Chougule has repeatedly challenged the Naik family in high-profile contests—losing the 2009 Lok Sabha election to Sanjeev Naik, Ganesh Naik’s son, assembly elections against Sandeep Naik, Sanjeev’s sibling, in 2009 and 2014, and again against Ganesh Naik in 2024, when he rebelled despite the Sena’s alliance with the BJP.
In the 2026 NMMC elections, the family is contesting across three Airoli wards: Vijay Chougule and his younger son Shubham from Ward 2, Vijay’s older son Mamit Chougule, a former corporator, from Ward 5, and his daughter Chandni Chougule, a first-time candidate, from Ward 1.
The Kulkarnis
Party: Shiv Sena
Political hub: Turbhe (Wards 14 and 20)
The Kulkarnis have dominated Turbhe’s slum stretches in civic politics over three decades. Patriarch Suresh Kulkarni is a veteran leader and a three-time former chairperson of the NMMC Standing Committee, with influence centred around Turbhe Store and adjoining localities.
A former Ganesh Naik loyalist, Kulkarni followed Naik from NCP to the BJP in 2019. In February 2020, he, his wife Radha Kulkarni—then a corporator—and other local leaders quit the BJP to join the Shiv Sena, over differences with Ganesh Naik and on issues of delayed infra work, such as skywalks, flyovers etc. Following Shiv Sena’s split in 2022, the family aligned with the Eknath Shinde faction.
In the 2026 civic elections, the family is contesting from two Turbhe wards. Suresh Kulkarni is in the fray from Ward 14, while his son Mahesh Kulkarni, a Yuva Sena leader from the Belapur assembly constituency, and daughter-in-law Aboli Mahesh Kulkarni are both contesting from Ward 20. Suresh Kulkarni’s wife Radha has earlier served as a corporator.
The Patils
Party: An Independent, but aligned to Shiv Sena
Political hub: Kopar Khairane (Ward 11)
Shivram Parshuram Patil was first elected as an Independent corporator in 2000, and subsequently, both he and his wife Anita Shivram Patil returned as Independents during the 2004–09 NMMC tenure, forming one of the city’s notable husband–wife victories.
By 2016, Shivram Patil joined the Shiv Sena and was elected chairman of the NMMC Standing Committee, defeating an NCP nominee through an internal vote. The couple later faced disqualification over allegations of unauthorised construction linked to a CIDCO’s 12.5% scheme plot. He was disqualified by the then municipal commissioner Tukaram Munde on allegations of illegal construction of his house; the Bombay High Court however stayed the civic commissioner’s order, granting interim relief.
In the 2026 civic elections, the family is contesting together from Kopar Khairane’s Ward 11, with Shivram Patil, Anita Patil and their daughter-in-law Purnima Patil in the fray, completing the family’s transition from independent civic politics to consolidated participation within the Shiv Sena’s organisational fold.
THANE
The Bhoirs
Party: Shiv Sena
Political Hub: Kolshet, Majiwada, Balkum and Dhokali (Panel 8)
The Bhoir family, led by Devram Bhoir, a six-time corporator of the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC), former Opposition leader and the senior-most corporator in the civic body, continues to remain a dominant political force in Thane’s local politics. Over the course of his 40-year long career, Bhoir has been associated with several political parties, including the BJP, Congress and NCP, and is currently a member of the Shiv Sena in TMC.
The Bhoir family enjoys a strong political hold in Thane’s Balkum area, where it has built a loyal voter base over the years. The family formally joined the Shiv Sena in 2017 and has remained with the party since then.
In the current TMC elections, the Bhoir family has significantly expanded its political presence. Four members of the family are contesting the elections on Shiv Sena tickets, all from wards that fall under Panel 8. Devram Bhoir himself is contesting from Balkum (panel 8C), while his elder son Sanjay is contesting from Majiwada (panel 8D). Sanjay’s wife Usha has been fielded from Kolshet (panel 8A), and the younger son Bhushan’s wife, Sapna Bhushan Bhoir, is contesting from Dhokali (panel 8B).
