[3] She also served for as a Union Minister of State from 1999 to 2004, holding the portfolios for Human Resource Development, Communications and Information Technology and Petroleum and Natural Gas.

[6][7] Sumitra Mahajan was born in a Chitpavan Brahmin Marathi family to Usha and Purushottam Sathe in Chiplun, Maharashtra.

Sumitra Mahajan's hobbies include reading, music, drama and cinema as well as an enthusiasm for singing.

She ran for the first time and won the Lok Sabha elections in 1989, against former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Prakash Chandra Sethi.

In 2005, an FIR in the scam was lodged at Central Kotwali Police Station, Indore against 16 persons including Milind Mahajan, but it was removed after the investigation.