Maharashtra Legislative Council polls for Graduates'/Teachers' seats promise to be a cliffhanger

Mumbai: The last big election before Maharashtra goes for Vidhan Sabha polls is turning out to be a cliff-hanger amid an intense tussle between the ruling Maha Yuti (NDA) and the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (I.N.D.I.A.).

Four seats in the Maharashtra Legislative Council are going to polls: Mumbai Graduates’ constituency, Konkan Division Graduates’ constituency, Nashik Division Teachers’ constituency, and Mumbai Teachers’ constituency.

Voting is scheduled to be held on Wednesday (26 June), while the counting of votes is slated to be held on 1 June.

The four members who retired on 7 June are: Vilas Potnis of Shiv Sena (UBT) (Mumbai Graduates’), Niranjan Davkhare of BJP (Konkan Division Graduates’ ), Kapil Patil of Lok Bharti (Mumbai Teachers’) and Kishore Darade, an Independent candidate (Nashik Division Teachers').

The Nashik Teachers’ seat will see a triangular fight between Kishor Darade, who is now backed by the Shiv Sena, Sandip Dulwe of Shiv Sena (UBT) and Mahendra Bhavsar (NCP).

The Konkan Graduates’ seat meanwhile will see a direct fight between BJP’s Niranjan Davkhare and Ramesh Keer of Congress. Davkhare’s father late Vasant Davkhare, who was a close aide of NCP (SP) supremo Sharad Pawar, had been a former Thane Mayor and ex-Deputy Chairperson of the Maharashtra Legislative Council.

In the Mumbai Graduates’ seat, a direct contest is on the cards between Anil Parab, a close aide of Shiv Sena (UBT) head Uddhav Thackeray, and Kiran Shelar of the BJP.

In Mumbai Teachers’ constituency, the triangular battle is between J M Abhyankar of Shiv Sena (UBT), Subhash More of Shikshak Party, Shivajirao Nalavade and Shivnath Darade, who the have support of BJP. Abhyankar is an Mumbai division chief of Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Shikshak Sena and former Chairman of Maharashtra State Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Commission and former Vice Chairman of Maharashtra State Minorities Commission.

The issues in these polls by-and-large remain the same as the Lok Sabha polls. However, the Maratha-vs-OBC reservation issue and the NEET-NET-UGC row have added a new dimension to the polls.

The results are expected to be a morale booster for both the alliances of Maharashtra, and hence stakes are very high.