Vinod Tawde is a national general secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and a veteran leader from Maharashtra. According to his LinkedIn profile, Tawde is "an engineer by qualification" and has studied from the Savitribai Phule Pune University. He was a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly from 2014-19, representing the Borivali constituency. He was also sworn in as the Minister of School Education, Higher & Technical Education, Marathi Language, Cultural Affairs & Sports. Tawde has also been a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council. On November 19, 2024, Tawde was caught up in a controversy when he was gheraoed by Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA) workers at a hotel in Virar near Mumbai. The party workers alleged that he had come to distribute cash among voters ahead of polling in the Maharashtra Assembly elections, which was scheduled for the next day. Rs 9.93 lakh were recovered from his hotel rooms, according to the Election Commission, and the police also registered an FIR in the matter.