6 leaders who broke the mould

The exceptional leaders and the reason why they managed to stand out in year 2014.

With two back-to-back elections, politicians and their promises came out of our ears this year. Only a few managed to stand out. Here’s why.

Waris Yusuf Pathan: Thanks to this lawyer-turned-politician, the AIMIM party made its debut in Mumbai, winning the Byculla seat. The party’s dark horse was one of MIM’s two winning candidates among the 36 it fielded state-wide. He outdid the likes of BJP’s Madhukar Chavan, the MNS’s Sanjay Naik and Geeta Gawli of the Akhil Bharatiya Sena.

Medha Patkar: The activist-politician was AAP’s candidate for the Lok Sabha polls from Mumbai’s North East constituency. And though she failed to notch up a win, she ran her campaign just as she has run her campaigns, putting zeal and commitment to issues ahead of grandstanding and tokenism.

Poonam Mahajan: This first time MP joined the BJP only after her father’s death in 2006, but managed to win against two-term MP Priya Dutt of the Congress from Mumbai North Central constituency, with a huge margin of 1.86 lakh votes. That she won despite the constituency’s large minority population was interesting.

Ashish Shelar: The Mumbai unit chief of the BJP defeated three-time MLA Baba Siddique in the heavily minority-dominated constituency of Bandra West in the Assembly elections. The 41-year-old advocate also spoke up for gay rights, unnerving senior BJP wallahs.

Rahul Shewale: This Shiv Sainik won the Mumbai South Central Lok Sabha seat with a margin of 1.38 lakh votes, defeating sitting Congress MP Eknath Gaikwad, who was expected to score a hat-trick. A trusted Uddhav Thackeray aide, Shewale is seen as a major future leader for the Sena’s Gen Next.

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