Rajendra Singh Shekhawat, also known as Raosaheb Shekhawat, is a politician in the Indian state of

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

. He is a former

Member of Legislative Assembly A Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected to sit in a legislative assembly. The term most commonly refers to members of the legislature of a federated state or an autonomous region, but is also used for several national ...

(MLA) for the Amravati constituency of the

Maharashtra Legislative Assembly The Maharashtra Legislative Assembly (ISO: ''Mahārāṣṭra Vidhāna Sabhā'') is the lower house of the bicameral legislature of Maharashtra state in western India. It consists of 288 members directly elected from single-seat constituenci ...

Family

Shekhawat is the son of

Pratibha Patil Pratibha Devisingh Patil (born 19 December 1934), also known as Pratibha Patil Shekhawat, is an Indian politician and lawyer who served as the president of India from 2007 to 2012. She was the first woman to become the president of India. A m ...

, the former

President of India The president of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, and the commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the Indian Armed ...

, and

Devisingh Ramsingh Shekhawat Devisingh Ramsingh Shekhawat ( – 24 February 2023) was an Indian agriculturist and politician who served as the first gentleman of India as the husband of President Pratibha Patil. He also served as the first gentleman of Rajasthan and also ...

, a former MLA and First Mayor of

Amravati Amravati (/Marathi phonology, əmᵊɾɑʋᵊt̪iː/) is a city in Maharashtra located in the Vidarbha region. It is the ninth largest city in Maharashtra, India & second largest city in the Vidarbha region in terms of population. It is the ...

. He has a sister.

Politics

Shekhawat, who has a son and a daughter, was a car dealer in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

from 1990 until he became a politician. Prior to being elected to the state legislature in 2009, Shekhawat had worked for the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

(INC) for a decade. He had been vice-president of the Amravati District Congress Committee and secretary of the Mumbai Regional Congress Committee, as well as having involvement with the Seva Dal and Youth Congress. He had been looking for an opportunity to be elected since 2004. Shekhawat won the Amravati

Vidhan Sabha The State Legislative Assembly, also known as the Vidhan Sabha or the Saasana Sabha, is a legislative body in each of the states and certain union territories of India. Members of the legislative assembly are often directly elected to serve fiv ...

seat in the 2009 Maharashtra Legislative Assembly elections. Standing as a candidate of the INC, he defeated the incumbent,

Sunil Deshmukh Dr. Sunil Panjabrao Deshmukh (born 28 May 1958) is the Member of Legislative Assembly from the constituency of Amravati, Maharashtra, India. He is a member of Indian National Congress (INC). He is a former Minister of State for Finance and Pla ...

, by 5614 votes. There were accusations that Shekhawat's family connections had influenced the INC decision to select him as a candidate, which had in turn caused Deshmukh - previously himself an INC representative - to stand as an independent. Shekhawat's mother and father had in the past been elected to represent the town in the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...

and Vidhan Sabha, respectively. Shekhawat again contested the Amravati seat in the 2014 elections, as also did Deshmukh. On this occasion, it was Deshmukh, now standing as a candidate for the

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

, who emerged as winner.

References

Living people Maharashtra MLAs 2009–2014 Year of birth missing (living people) Pratibha Patil Children of presidents of India Indian National Congress politicians from Maharashtra {{Maharashtra-INC-politician-stub