Maharashtra: Unsure of Returning to Power, BJP Eyes Post of Council Chairman before Assembly Polls

 Mumbai: Election for Maharashtra Legislative Council Chairman is likely to be held next week. After the Lok Sabha debacle, the BJP wants to elect its member to the post so that it can have a control over the upper House even if it loses the Assembly election. The front runners are Prof Ram Shinde, Pravin Darekar and Niranjan Davkhare. The Chairman’s post has been vacant for the last two years.

According to the sources, the BJP wants to elect the Chairman of the Council in the ongoing monsoon session of the State Legislature as there is uncertainty whether they would come back to power after the assembly elections or not. “Since the next session in the state will be held after the assembly elections, the BJP wants to get its Chairman elected in the Legislative Council,” a ruling party leader said.

A senior legislator from the treasury bench in the Council told this newspaper that the election of Council Chairman is likely to be held on Tuesday or Wednesday next week. “Nobody from the alliance partners will oppose BJP’s candidate for Chairman’s post. Ram Shinde is likely to be appointed the next Chairman. He belongs to the Dhangar community, which has drifted away from the party in the recently concluded Lok Sabha election,” he said.

Dhangar community constitutes nearly 10 per cent of Maharashtra's population. They practice both nomadic pastoral, and semi-nomadic and agrarian lifestyles in rural areas of the state.

Officials from the state legislature said that the government will have to inform the House three days prior before holding an election for Chairman of the Council. “It is expected to be held next week, most probably on July 11 or 12,” the officials said..

In 2022, Ramraje Nimbalkar, who was the chairman of the Legislative Council of Maharashtra legislature, retired from the Council. However, the NCP (united) renominated Mr. Nimbalkar for legislative Council and he got elected. But the Chairman’s post has not been filled since July 8, 2022.

In the first week of the monsoon session, the members of opposition benches in the Council had raised a demand to fill the Chairman’s post. Maharashtra Parliamentary Affairs Minister Chandrakant Patil had said that they would soon get approval from the cabinet. Following this, the proposal will be sent to Governor Ramesh Bais. “After this, the election schedule for the Chairman’s post will be announced with the permission of the Governor. I will discuss this issue with chief minister Eknath Shinde,” Mr. Patil had said.