If caste barriers fell in the Lok Sabha elections 2019, dynasties became the second casualty with many political families, mostly belonging to the opposition camp, failing to win the people’s mandate.
Be it the Mulayam Singh Yadav clan in Uttar Pradesh, Lalu Prasad’s family in Bihar, the Hooda family in Haryana or the Pawars of Maharashtra, the going has been rough.
Congress leader Deepender Singh Hooda, son of former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Hooda, was trailing narrowly in Rohtak. His father lost in Sonipat.
In Haryana’s epic battle of dynasts witnessed in Hisar, BJP candidate Brijendra Singh, son of former Union Minister Birender Singh, defeated Dushyant Chautala, grandson of former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala and Bhavya Bishnoi, the third generation of former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal’s family.
In Uttar Pradesh, Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) leader Ajit Singh and his son Jayant Choudhary were staring at defeat. Even in the Yadav clan, Dimple Yadav, wife of Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav, was trailing in Kannauj. in Badaun, Mulayam Singh Yadav’s nephew Dharmendra Yadav was trailing, so was another nephew Akshay Yadav from Firozabad.
However, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav were leading in Mainpuri and Azamgarh, respectively.
Congress leader Jitin Prasada, son of late party veteran Jitendra Prasada, came third in Dhaurahra in UP. Jyotiraditya Scindia, son of late Congress leader Madhavrao Scindia, lost his Guna seat in Madhya Pradesh. It was a double defeat for him as Scindia was in charge of Congress in western Uttar Pradesh where the party was decimated.
Milind Deora, son of another Congress leader, the late Murli Deora, lost from Mumbai South.
In Rajasthan, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s son Vaibahv Gehlot lost in Jodhpur, but his predecessor Vasudhara Raje’s son Dushyant Singh won in Jhalawar-Baran. In neighbouring Madhya Pradesh, Chief Minister Kamal Nath’s son Nakul, however, won his father’s Chhindwara seat.
In Maharashtra, Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule-Pawar won from Baramati for the third consecutive time, but his nephew and former Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar’s son Parth (NCP) lost from Maval.
Bihar saw Lalu Prasad’s Rashtriya Janata Dal, being led by his son Tejashwi Yadav, biting the dust. Tejashwi’s sister Misha Bharti was trailing in Pataliputra.
Elsewhere, Shiromani Akali Dal President Sukhbir Badal and his wife Harsimrat Kaur Badal won their seats Ferozepur and Bathinda respectively, and in Tamil Nadu, later former Chief Minister and DMK founder M. Karunanidhi’s daughter K. Kanimozhi was leading in Thoothukkudi.
Telangana saw Kavitha Kalvakuntla, daughter of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, losing from Nizamabad.
In Karnataka, Prajwal Revanna, the grandson of former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda, won from Hassan but the other grandson Nikhil Kumaraswamy, the son of Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, lost from Mandya. Deve Gowda himself lost from the Tumkur seat.
