A total of 15 turncoats populate the fifth phase Lok Sabha candidates list – eight in the BJP-led NDA, six in the INDIA bloc, including one in the Trinamool Congress. The Biju Janata Dal has also fielded one defector.

Among the eight states – where 49 seats will poll on May 20 – Maharashtra has the most number of turncoats at seven. Of these, six are in the Shinde camp, including two who switched sides after summons by the Enforcement Directorate and one accused in a sexual assault case.          

Let’s look at four controversial turncoats in Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena camp who got a Lok Sabha ticket.  

Ravindra Waikar: ED case, BMC ‘consideration’ after defection  

Ravindra Waikar is the Shinde faction’s candidate from Mumbai North West. A three-time MLA from Jogeshwari and former housing and education minister, Waikar, 65, began his political career in 1992. He served as the BMC corporator for four terms and was chairman of the municipal body’s standing committee four times before contesting his first assembly polls in 2009. 

This year, the former close aide of Shiv Sena supremo Uddhav Thackeray is contesting his first Lok Sabha election in the Sena vs Sena fight against Shiv Sena UBT’s Amol Kirtikar, son of incumbent MP and Shinde faction leader Gajanan Kirtikar. 

Both Waikar and junior Kirtikar are also booked in separate cases by the ED. In fact, the former’s defection came three months after the ED lodged the PMLA case against him in November last year. He skipped two ED summons and finally joined the probe by January-end. A month later in March, hours after a campaign with Uddhav Thackeray, the politician switched sides and said his decision was “driven by a commitment to develop his constituency”. He also openly said he had to “either go to jail or switch parties”.  

Around the same time, the BMC filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court, saying it was willing to “reconsider” Waikar’s case. Waikar is accused of “defrauding the BMC of Rs 500 crore” in 2021 by obtaining permission to build a five-star hotel on government land reserved for a playground at Mumbai’s Aarey Milk Colony. The complaint was filed in 2023 by controversial BJP leader Kirit Somaiya; Waikar and his wife Manisha subsequentlyfiled a Rs 100 crore defamation suit against Somaiya.

After the announcement of Waikar’s candidacy, Somaiya said the BJP had to “make compromises to ensure victory in over 400 seats”. Later, in a TV interview, he said, “If your shirt gets stained, then you wash it and wear it again. They [Ravindra Waikar and Yamini Jadhav] too deserve a chance.” We’ll get to Yamini Jadhav later in the story.

In the past five years, Waikar’s income has risen from about Rs 10 crore to Rs 54 crore as of April 2024. As per his affidavit, other than the ED case, the Sena politician has two pending cases related to damage of public property. 

Yamini Jadhav: Husband-wife probed by I-T and ED, but no case  

Yamini Jadhav is the Shinde camp’s candidate for Mumbai South. The 56-year-old MLA from Byculla began her political career as a BMC corporator in 2012. Seven years later she was elected to the state assembly in 2019. The May 20 poll is her first Lok Sabha contest, a fight between the two Sena factions with UBT’s Arvind Sawant fielded against her.

Her husband Yashwant Jadhav is also a former corporator and standing committee chairman of BMC. The husband-wife duo were investigated by the Income Tax department and the ED in February 2022 for making “hawala” transactions through a shell company. The I-T department had also recommended her disqualification as an MLA for filing “false declaration” in her 2019 affidavit.

The central agencies’ lens had come after the local BJP workers’ persistent allegations of corruption against Yashwant Jadhav, an unsuccessful no-confidence motion, and criticism over a viral clip allegedly of him threatening a contractor.

The central agency probed the couple for FEMA violations and suspected money laundering. The investigation went cold after the duo – known to be “staunch loyalists” of Uddhav Thackeray – sided with Ekanth Shinde. But weeks before the polls, the I-T department demanded Rs 143 crore tax from the couple for the period between 2018 and 2022. 

Notably, as per Yamini’s affidavit, there are no pending criminal cases against her at present. In the past five years, her assets have increased from Rs 9 crore in 2019 to over Rs 13 crore in 2024.   

Newslaundry earlier reported about 14 big defectors who switched sides after the ED whip. 

Rahul Shewale: 4-time corporator, rape accused, no case in affidavit  

Rahul Shewale is the Mumbai South Central candidate from Shiv Sena’s Shinde camp. The 51-year-old began his political career in 2002 and served as the chairman of the BMC for four terms till 2014. 

In between, he unsuccessfully contested the 2004 assembly polls.  But he scored a victory in his first Lok Sabha battle from Mumbai South Central in 2014. He secured the seat in the 2019 polls too, and was one of the first Sena leaders to side with Shinde when the split unfolded in June 2022.

Two months before his switch, a 33-year-old Dubai women had accused Shewale of rape under the pretext of marriage. In a written complaint at Sakinaka police station,  the woman said Shewale had been “emotionally and mentally exploiting her” and accusedhim of raping her since 2020. 

“The MP used to invite me for dinner at the MP House in Delhi whenever I used to come from Dubai. In October, 2021, I posted a video and photo of me and Shewale on Instagram, following which he lodged an FIR against me in Sharjah and I was arrested. I spent 78 days in jail but I was acquitted later,” the woman told news agency PTI.

But there are no pending cases against Shewale, as per his affidavit. He, in turn, registered multiple cases against the woman for “tarnishing his image”, in which the Bombay High Court granted her interim protection this month. Shewale had also alleged that the woman had links with Dawood, and demanded an NIA probe. 

Nevertheless, the Shiv Sena (Uddhav) camp has been targeting Shewale over the case, and had also published an article in their mouthpiece Saamana in connection with Shewale’s alleged “real estate dealings”. The turncoat leader, meanwhile, filed a defamation case against Uddhav Thackeray and Sanjay Raut. He has also been targeting the Shiv Sena (Uddhav) over its stance against the Adani Group’s Dharavi Redevelopment Project.

Shewale, who has a civil engineering degree and is a businessman by occupation, has assets worth over Rs 13 crore as of April 2024. It was worth Rs Rs 1.33 crore in 2014.          

Naresh Mhaske: Ex-Thane mayor, BJP corporators’ mass resignation

Naresh Mhaske is the Shinde camp’s candidate from Thane, a bastion of the Maharashtra Chief Minister. The 54-year-old is Thane’s former mayor, who quit the post to side with Shinde and has now been rewarded with his first Lok Sabha ticket. 

Following his defection, Mhaske accused Uddhav of betrayal and said: “Fought in alliance with BJP in 2019, then formed an alliance with Congress and NCP for the seat. Then who inserted the dagger into the skull?” 

In the Lok Sabha polls, in another fight between the Sena factions, the Shinde faction leader is contesting against UBT’s Rajan Vichare. On the announcement of his candidature, while the ex-mayor and long-time Sainik said it was only Shiv Sena that could “elevate a common man” like him, it caused a stir among the BJP workers.     

Over Mhaske’s nomination and the denial of ticket to incumbent BJP MP Sanjeev Naik, the latter’s supporters including 64 BJP corporators and hundreds of party workers drove a mass resignation campaign last month. The workers sent their resignations to state BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule and protested with placards saying “no vote for BJP”.  After deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis intervened, the workers withdrew their resignations and joined Mhaske’s campaign.

The politician studied till Class 12. His contemporaries call him the “Chanakya” of political strategies. He has a construction business and assets worth Rs 26 crore. He also has two pending criminal cases, including one related to criminal force against public servants.