Heena Gavit is one of the youngest Lok Sabha Members.
At just 26 years old, she is one of the youngest members of Parliament in the new Lok Sabha, who not only defeated her opponent with a margin of over one lakh votes, but also won from a constituency the Congress has never lost since Independence.
Meet Dr. Heena Gavit from Nandurbar. A medical graduate, she has just appeared for her MD exam and is days away from taking her practical exams. "The day Narendra Modi ji was speaking in Parliament, I appeared for my last paper. I was so restless and kept turning to the TV set to catch what I was missing," she says.
Not too long before the elections, she joined the BJP and got a ticket to fight against Congress' eight term MP from the backward district, Manikrao Gavit.
"An officer told me a while ago when I was studying for my UPSC exams, 'Heena, why follow when you can lead?' Parliament is where all decisions are made and now I'm going be able to play a role in that process. I'm very excited," says the young doctor.
Her political debut though saw her father pay a heavy price. A minister in the Congress-NCP government in Maharashtra, Vijaykumar Gavit lost his cabinet berth because Heena joined a rival party. And though their political paths are separate, she got her family's full support.
Even her study schedule didn't seem to come in the way of her campaigning as she had all her study material literally at her fingertips. She had downloaded as many as 15 reference books on her smartphone. She now hopes to use her medical skills and political ambition to improve one of the most backward tribal districts in Maharashtra.
"When people say Nandurbar they immediately think of malnutrition. I want to change that picture and eradicate malnutrition altogether from the district," she says emphatically.