More Than One Third of Maharashtra MPs Are First-timers

Mumbai: As many as 20 of the 48 MPs from Maharashtra are making their debut in the Lok Sabha.

Eleven of them are from the BJP, four from the Shiv Sena, two from the NCP, one is an independent backed by the NCP, and one each is from the Congress and AIMIM.

Of the new MPs, Pratap Chilklikar (Nanded), Imtiaz Jaleel (Aurangabad), Hemant Patil (Hingoli), Suresh Dhanorkar (Chandrapur) and Girish Bapat (Pune) are currently members of the state Assembly.

In Chandrapur, BJP MP and Union Minister of State for Home Hansraj Ahir lost to Suresh Dhanorkar. Four sitting MPs of the Shiv Sena tasted defeat: Union minister Anant Geete (Raigad), Shivaji Adhalrao Patil (Shirur), Anand Adsul (Amravati) and Chandrakant Khaire (Aurangabad).

The sitting Sena MPs who would be returning to the Lok Sabha include Prataprao Jadhav (Buldhana), Shrikant Shinde (Kalyan), Shrirang Barne (Maval), Arvind Sawant (Mumbai South), Gajanan Kirtikar (Mumbai North West), Rahul Shewale (Mumbai South Central), Rajan Vichare (Thane), Bhawana Gawli (Yavatmal), Sadashiv Lokhande (Shirdi), Vinayak Raut (Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg), Krupal Tumane (Ramtek), Sanjay Jadhav (Parbhani) and Hemant Godse (Nashik).

Rajendra Gavit who had won Palghar by-election last year on BJP ticket retained the seat on Shiv Sena ticket this time.

The BJP's Kapil Patil (Bhiwandi), Pritam Munde (Beed), Sanjay Dhotre (Akola), Union Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre (Dhule), Gopal Shetty (Mumbai North), Nitin Gadkari (Nagpur), Raosaheb Danve (Jalna), Ramdas Tadas (Wardha), Sanjaykaka Patil (Sangli), Poonam Mahajan (Mumbai North Central), Ashok Nete (Gadchiroli-Chimur), Heena Gavit (Nandurbar), Raksha Khadse (Raver) retained their seats.

Supriya Sule (Baramati) and Udyanraje Bhosale (Satara) were the sitting NCP MPs who won. Actor Amol Kolhe (Shirur) and Sunil Tatkare (who defeated Union minister Geete in Raigad) are first time MPs of the party.

Other new faces are NCP-backed independent Navnit Rana (Amravati), AIMIM's Imtiaz Jaleel Syed (Aurangabad), and Suresh Dhanorkar, the sole Congress MP in the state now.

From the BJP's side, Sujay Vikhe Patil (Ahmednagar) Sunil Mendhe (Bhandara Gondiya), Bharati Pawar (Dindori), Unmesh Patil (Jalgaon), Sudhakar Shrangare (Latur), Ranjit Nimbalkar (Madha), Manoj Kotak (Mumbai North East), Pratap Chiklikar (Nanded), Girish Bapat (Pune), Jaisiddeshwar Swami (Solapur) and Ranjit Nimbalkar (Madha) are entering the Lok Sabha for the first time.

Sena's first-time MPs are Dhairyasheel Mane (Hatkanagale), Omraje Nimbalkar (Osmanabad), Sanjay Mandlik (Kolhapur) and Hemant Patil (Hingoli).