Accused in Gauri Lankesh Murder Wins Jalna Civic Polls as Independent
Shrikant Pangarkar, one of the eighteen accused facing trial in the 2017 murder of journalist Gauri Lankesh in Bengaluru, has won a seat in the Jalna Municipal Corporation. He defeated his BJP rival Raosaheb Dhoble in ward number thirteen. Pangarkar is currently out on bail. The Bombay High Court granted him bail in August 2024 in the Nalasopara arms haul case, which the state anti-terrorism squad investigated. The Karnataka High Court ordered his release on bail in the Lankesh murder case on September 4, 2024.
Multiple Candidates Win Elections from Behind Bars
The recent civic polls in Maharashtra saw several candidates with criminal backgrounds securing victories while incarcerated. In Pune, Sonali Vanraj Andekar and Laxmi Udaykant Andekar, the daughter-in-law and sister-in-law of gangster Suryakant alias Bandu Andekar, were elected from behind bars. Police arrested them in the murder of Bandu's eighteen-year-old grandson, a case stemming from a family dispute and gang rivalry. The Republican Party of India (Kharat), an ally of the Ajit Pawar-led NCP, fielded the two women.
Other winners from jail include former Jalgaon mayor Lalit Kolhe of Shiv Sena, arrested in a bogus call centre case. His son Piyush and mother Sindhu also won civic polls in north Maharashtra. In Solapur, BJP's Shalan Shinde won despite being among fifteen accused arrested for murdering a rival MNS functionary on January 3 this year. The quarrel reportedly involved the withdrawal of nomination papers.
Mixed Fortunes for Criminals and Their Relatives
NCP's Aazam Kazi, externed from Sangli and Kolhapur on January 8, won from Miraj ward number six. However, not all candidates with criminal records found success. The wife of Pune gangster Gajanan Marne, who won on an MNS ticket in 2012, faced rejection by voters again in the 2026 polls after a similar defeat in 2017. Marne contested on an NCP ticket both times.
Gangster Bappu Nayar lost from Pune's Indiranagar ward number thirty-nine. In Nashik, former RPI (A) corporator Prakash Londhe, jailed since October 2025 in an attempted murder and extortion case, lost to his BJP rival in Satpur ward number eleven.
Controversy Over Political Support for Criminals' Kin
The civic poll run-up sparked significant debate, especially in Pune, regarding political parties supporting relatives of criminals. The election results have reignited this controversy. Pangarkar contested the Jalna polls as an independent candidate. He previously had a long association with Shiv Sena, serving as a member of the Jalna Municipal Council from 2001 to 2011.
Before the 2024 state assembly elections, the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena appointed Pangarkar as the party's poll campaign committee chief for the Jalna constituency. Police arrested Pangarkar in August 2018 as a conspirator in Lankesh's murder on September 5, 2017. Her killing triggered nationwide outrage over freedom of expression, dissent, and political intolerance.
Karnataka High Court's Bail Reasoning
The Karnataka High Court granted bail to Pangarkar and three others on grounds of parity with four co-accused released earlier. The court noted that the petitioners were not present at the crime spot on the day of the incident. It also observed no likelihood of the trial concluding in the near future.
Pune's Andekar Family and Their Political Clout
Elections in Pune's Raviwar Peth-Nana Peth ward number twenty-three, where the two Andekar family members contested, drew keen attention. The family has wielded considerable political influence in the area for over three decades. Sonali's husband Vanraj was an NCP corporator in 2022 when the Pune Municipal Corporation body dissolved.
Vanraj was murdered on September 1, 2024, due to a family dispute involving his brothers-in-law and an aide-turned-rival of Andekar. The murder of Bandu Andekar's eighteen-year-old grandson, Ayush Komkar, on September 5, 2025, allegedly by his men to avenge Vanraj's murder, prompted police action against the Andekars to break their hold. Bandu, his son Krushna, Sonali, and Laxmi were among those arrested in the Komkar murder case and are lodged in Yerawada central prison.
Police invoked the Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA). They also got the Pune Municipal Corporation to demolish an entire illegal fish market, a primary source of hafta collection and income for the Andekars for years. The election generated considerable interest against this backdrop of crime and political maneuvering.
