Mumbai:After the Lok Sabha election, the BJP-led Mahayuti and Maha Vikash Aghadi (MVA) will lock horns in the elections for 11 seats of Maharashtra Council, who will be elected by MLAs. As per the strength in the Assembly, the BJP-led Mahayuti can easily win nine seats, while the MVA can win two seats. But the Shiv Sena (UBT) is now planning to throw its hat in the ring because of which the election will not be held unopposed.
The Congress is likely to field a Muslim candidate in the council, while Sharad Pawar-led NCP is believed to have extended its support to PWP leader Jayant Patil, whose tenure ends in July.
Maharashtra has 288 members of the strong legislative house. Of 288 members, seven members resigned after they were elected as an MP in the recently concluded Lok Sabha election. Besides this, there are four vacancies due to the demise of four MLAs including Govardhan Sharma, Rajendra Patni of the BJP, P.N. Patil of the Congress, Anil Babar of the Shiv Sena. Ashok Chavan and Raju Parve of the Congress had resigned from the Assembly ahead of the Lok Sabha election. Congress MLA Sunil Kedar has been disqualified following a conviction in a corruption case.
According to the officials from the state legislature, the electoral college is 274 and the quota for the winning candidate is 23. Thus, every MLC needs a quota of 23 votes in order to win in the first round. “It will be a secret ballot voting,” he said.
In Mahayuti, the BJP has 103 MLAs, followed by Ajit Pawar-led NCP’s 40, Shiv Sena’s 38, while in the MVA, the Congress has 37 MLAs, Shiv Sena (UBT) 15 and Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) 12. Because the election will be held through secret ballot, both sides are worried about cross voting.
A BJP leader said that they have support of 15 independent MLAs, therefore, the party’s strength reached 118. “We can easily win five seats. Accordingly, we are now going to field our candidates,” he said.
According to him, Eknath Shinde led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar led NCP will be contesting on two seats each.
A senior Shiv Sena (UBT) leader said that they are having dialogue with the Congress to seek the support of its MLAs in the council election. “With 15 MLAs, we only need eight MLAs to get our candidate elected. If the Congress agrees to support our candidate, then we will field our candidate,” the senior Shiv Sena (UBT) leader said.
An NCP (SP) leader said that they are planning to give a joint candidate of MVA as it will boost the confidence of small constituents, which have supported the MVA during the recently concluded Lok Sabha election. “PWP leader Jayant Patil will be a joint candidate of the MVA. He will be supported by Samajwadi Party, Communist of Party of India and independents,” an NCP (SP) leader said.
A senior Congress leader said that they will be considering giving a ticket to minority community leaders. “Ahead of the Assembly election, we have to pacify Muslim community. We had not given a single ticket to a Muslim candidate in the Lok Sabha elections. Therefore, we will give the Council tickets to a Muslim candidate,” he said.
