Among the 17 women candidates fielded by prominent political parties in Maharashtra, seven have managed to secure a victory in the recently concluded 2024 Lok Sabha elections. These include four from the Congress party.
In Maharashtra, 13 of the 48 parliamentary constituencies have gone to the Congress, while the BJP and Shiv Sena (UBT) won nine each.The NCP (Sharad Pawar) bagged eight, while Shiv Sena registered wins in seven seats. Ajit Pawar-led NCP finished with one, while an Independent candidate has also been elected to the Lok Sabha.
Here’s a look at the women MPs from Maharashtra all set to be a part of the 18th Lok Sabha:
1. Supriya Sule
Ms Supriya, the daughter of veteran politician Sharad Pawar, won the Baramati seat for the fourth successive time and defeated Sunetra Pawar, the wife of her cousin and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, by 1,58,333 votes. For the first time, two members of the Pawar family were contesting against each other on their home turf.
2. Smita Wagh
The BJP continued its dominance in the Jalgaon constituency, with Smita Wagh managing a comfortable win against Karan Balasaheb Patil-Pawar of Shiv Sena (UBT) by 2,51,594. This seat has been a stronghold of the saffron party since 1999.
3. Raksha Khadse
BJP leader Raksha Khadse, the daughter-in-law of veteran politician Eknath Khadse, secured a hat-trick from the Raver seat, defeating Shriram Dayaram Patil of the NCP (SP) by 2,72,183 votes. She is the widow of Nikhil Khadse and first contested from the seat in 2014 on a BJP ticket.
4. Praniti ShindeÂ
Praniti is the daughter of former Union Minister Sushilkumar Shinde and is the MLA from the Solapur City Assembly constituency. In the 2024 elections, she defeated BJP MLA Ram Satpute by a margin of 74,197 votes from the Solapur Lok Sabha seat.
5. Varsha Gaikwad
Congress’ Mumbai unit president Varsha Gaikwad, an MLA from Dharavi, won against noted lawyer and BJP candidate Ujjwal Nikam from the Mumbai North-Central parliamentary constituency by a margin of 16,514 votes.
6. Pratibha Dhanorkar
Pratibha, the sitting Congress MLA from Warora, has registered a win from the Chandrapur seat in the 2024 elections. This Lok Sabha constituency was earlier represented by her husband Suresh Dhanorkar from 2019 until his demise in 2023. Pratibha defeated state forest minister Sudhir Mungantiwar by 2,60,406 votes.
7. Shobha Dinesh Bachhav
Congress’ Shobha Bachhav has secured a victory from the Dhule parliamentary seat in north Maharashtra against two-time incumbent MP Subhash Bhamre. She defeated him by a margin of 3,831 votes. This seat was held by the BJP since 2009.
