Sanjeev Ganesh Naik (born 15 April 1972) is an Indian politician, who became the first mayor of the satellite city of

Navi Mumbai Navi Mumbai (), is a planned city situated on the west coast of the Indian subcontinent, located in the Konkan division of Maharashtra state, on the mainland of India. Navi Mumbai is part of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). The city ...

at the age of 23. He was the

Nationalist Congress Party The Nationalist Congress Party ( NCP) is one of the nine national parties in India. The party generally supports Indian nationalism and Gandhian secularism. It is the largest opposition party in Maharashtra and is also a significant party i ...

(NCP) Member of the 15th Lok Sabha from

Thane (Lok Sabha constituency) Thane Lok Sabha constituency (formerly, Thana Lok Sabha constituency) is one of the 48 Lok Sabha (parliamentary) constituencies of Maharashtra state in western India. Assembly segments At present, after the implementation of the Presidentia ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the second-most populous state in India and the second-most populous country subdi ...

state, elected in the 2009 Indian general election, and is the son of former guardian minister for

Thane Thane (; also known as Thana, the official name until 1996) is a metropolitan city in Maharashtra, India. It is situated in the north-eastern portion of the Salsette Island. Thane city is entirely within Thane taluka, one of the seven taluk ...

and NCP member

Ganesh Naik Ganesh Naik (born 15 September 1950) is an Indian politician. He is the Bhartiya Janta Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian ...

Education

Naik's educational background has been a matter of some mystery and considerable controversy. According to an affidavit submitted to the Election Commission at the time of the 2014 Lok Sabha Election, he has a 12th pass from the Maharashtra board in Pune, received in 1995. According to his official website as of 2009, Naik has a Diploma in Dairy Development and Management, and an Advanced Diploma in Computer Hardware and Networks. During his 2009 campaign, the title "Dr." was used by Naik in his campaign literature. This referred to a degree awarded by a group in the United States called the "International Tamil University", a private distance-learning organisation which is not accredited to award degrees in the US, but which claims affiliation with established universities in India. During the election, Naik's campaign referred to him as the recipient of a doctorate (D Litt), but in his affidavit to the

Election Commission of India The Election Commission of India (ECI) is a constitutional body. It was established by the Constitution of India to conduct and regulate elections in the country. Article 324 of the Constitution provides that the power of superintendence, dir ...

, he declared that he had only studied up to the

Higher Secondary (School) Certificate The Higher Secondary School Certificate is a secondary qualification in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. Higher Secondary Education The Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education in Bangladesh recognises "Higher Secondary Education" und ...

(HSC), a school qualification which is below university level. Naik himself claimed to have received the degree for "social commitment", and not as an educational qualification. In April 2009, a petition was filed in

Bombay High Court The High Court of Bombay is the high court of the states of Maharashtra and Goa in India, and the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. It is seated primarily at Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay), and is one of the ...

to prevent him from using the title "Dr" in his campaign material.

Political career

Naik was first elected mayor of Navi Mumbai in May 1995 at the age of 23, then again in 2000. In 2003, he was elected mayor for the third time. During his time in office, Naik help lead the establishment of the Navi Mumbai Municipal Transport initiative and initiated the funding of the Morbe dam project. During his third term as mayor, the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation was awarded First Prize in the first Sant Gadge Baba Cleanliness Drive, a state-level corporation contest. Naik contested from the Thane Lok Sabha Constituency in the 2008

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election ( Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to ...

, but was defeated by the

Shiv Sena Shiv Sena (IAST: ''Śiva Sēnā'') () was a right-wing to far-right Marathi regionalist and Hindu ultranationalist political party in India founded in 1966 by cartoonist Bal Thackeray. Originally emerging from nativist movements in Bom ...

party candidate Anand Paranjape by 90,872 votes. Naik won the MP seat for Thane constituency in the 2009 Lok Sabha Election.

References

External links

* http://www.sanjeevgnaik.com/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Naik, Sanjeev Living people 1972 births India MPs 2009–2014 People from Thane Marathi politicians Nationalist Congress Party politicians from Maharashtra Mayors of places in Maharashtra Maharashtra municipal councillors People from Navi Mumbai People who fabricated academic degrees Lok Sabha members from Maharashtra United Progressive Alliance candidates in the 2014 Indian general election Politicians from Thane Bharatiya Janata Party politicians from Maharashtra