All the political prowess they inherited seems to have been rendered ineffective as sons of famous politician fathers failed miserably in the 17th Lok Sabha elections.
From former Pime Mnister Rajiv Gandhi’s son and Congress president Rahul Gandhi losing out on the party’s political bastion in Amethi, to Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s son Vaibhav, who lost in Jodhpur, the current generation of political dynasts have not lived up to their predecessors’ success.
Rahul Gandhi was left far behind by BJP’s Smriti Irani by over 55,000 votes. Vaibhav lost by a margin of over 2.7 lakh votes to BJP’s Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.
Also losing his stronghold over Madhya Pradesh’s Guna constituency is Congress’ Jyotiraditya Scindia, son of former Union Mnister Madhav Rao Scindia. The Congress has been in power in the seat since 1999.
In Rajasthan’s Barmer, Manvendra Singh, son of Jaswant Singh, founding member of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), lost by over 3.2 lakh votes. Manvendra was contesting on a Congress ticket.
In Maharashtra, Ajit Pawar’s son Parth, Murli Deora’s son Milind Deora and Shankarrao Chavan’s son Ashok Chavan conceded defeat from Maval, Mumbai South and Nanded constituencies respectively.
NCP’s Parth lost by 2,15,913 votes, and Congress’ Milind and Ashok by 1,00,067 and 40,148 votes, respectively.
Down south, Nikhil Kumaraswamy, son of Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy lost from Mandya by over 1.25 lakh votes. Nikhil was contesting on a JD(S) ticket.
Daughters, on the other hand, managed to save face. Sharad rpt Sharad Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule secured the Baramati seat in Maharashtra for the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). She beat BJP’s Kanchan Rahul Kool by over 1.5 lakh votes.
Former Tamil Nadu chief minister late M Karunanidhi’s daughter Kanimozhi won the Thoothukkudi seat in the state by a massive margin of over 3.47 lakh votes. She was contesting on a DMK ticket.
For more: Elections 2019