For the residents of Kannad, a small town located 330 km east of Mumbai, the story of the Jadhav family serves as a striking example of the deepening political polarisation in Maharashtra, where even the closest personal ties are not immune to an ideological divide.

The constituency has become a battleground for an unusual political rivalry. Harshvardhan Jadhav, a former two-term MLA known for his frequent party switches, is contesting as an Independent, while his wife Sanjana Jadhav, daughter of senior BJP leader and former Union minister Raosaheb Danve, has chosen to run as a Shiv Sena candidate. The clash between them will see a seasoned political player take on a “rising star” backed by the ruling Mahayuti alliance.

The Jadhav family hails from influential political families of Aurangabad and the neighbouring Jalna district. Harshvardhan Jadhav, 47, is the son of the late Raibhan Jadhav, a former Congress MLA from Kannad. His own political journey, however, has been far from being conventional, marked by numerous twists and turns. After an unsuccessful first attempt in the 2004 Assembly elections as an Independent, he made a dramatic comeback in 2009, winning the Kannad seat on a Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) ticket.

Harshvardhan came into the spotlight in January 2011, following an infamous incident in Aurangabad, where he allegedly tried to ram his vehicle into the convoy of then-chief minister Prithviraj Chavan. The police filed a case accusing him of breaking through a security cordon and attempting to assault officers. He was arrested and a viral video later surfaced showing him bruised and lying on his stomach, alleging police brutality.

This incident was a turning point in Harshvardhan’s career. Disillusioned with the MNS leadership, especially Raj Thackeray’s failure to back him during the crisis, Jadhav quit the party in 2013. He later contested the 2014 elections on a Shiv Sena ticket and won, but his alliance with the Sena proved short-lived. In 2018, he resigned as an MLA in protest against the government’s handling of the Maratha reservation agitation, further cementing his image as a “maverick leader”.

Harshvardhan’s volatile politics made his party leaders wary of him. Yet, his influence could not be underestimated. In the 2019 Aurangabad Lok Sabha elections, he played a crucial role in ensuring the defeat of Sena candidate Chandrakant Khaire. Running as an Independent, he garnered 2.83 lakh votes, which ultimately led to Khaire’s loss by just 4,492 votes to the AIMIM’s Imtiaz Jaleel.

Harshvardhan’s tumultuous political innings intersected with his personal life, leading to a fallout with his wife. Known for openly discussing his own struggle with mental health, he has faced serious allegations in recent years, including an assault on a family in Pune and accusations of physical violence from a female acquaintance.

In his affidavit for the 2024 Assembly elections, Harshvardhan disclosed that he has been “separated since 2019 but not yet divorced”. His wife, on the other hand, still lists herself as married in her affidavit.

Sanjana also comes from a political family. She is the daughter of former BJP Maharashtra chief Raosaheb Danve and a member of the Aurangabad Zilla Parishad. Though initially aligned with the BJP, Sanjana shifted to the Shiv Sena last month and managed to get a nomination. The party swap was necessitated as the undivided Sena had won the seat in 2019 and Shiv Sena leader and CM Eknath Shinde was unwilling to relinquish his claim on the seat. In this election, she faces an additional challenge from sitting MLA Udaysingh Rajput, who remained loyal to Uddhav Thackeray following the Shiv Sena’s split in 2022.

Harshvardhan’s decision to re-enter politics by contesting against his wife has raised eyebrows, especially given that he had announced in 2020 that he was stepping away from politics. “My successor in politics will be my wife… Every household has its differences, but I am firmly behind Sanjana,” he had said at the time, endorsing her as his political successor.

Now, four years later, Harshvardhan is contesting from the seat himself. Some locals claim that the Jadhav family’s poll bids from the rival camps may be part of their “calculated strategy” to ensure that at least one of them secures a win, with Harshvardhan cutting into Udaysingh’s votes to benefit Sanjana.

For his part, Harshvardhan is blaming the BJP for allegedly orchestrating the rift within his family for political gain. “By creating a split in the family, one political party has given her a ticket. Raosaheb Danve is behind this. They have torn my house apart and made my wife run against me. People spend festivals with their families, but this party has forced me to celebrate Diwali away from my loved ones because of its politics,” he alleged.