Battle lines drawn for Maharashtra Legislative Council polls

Close on the heels of the Rajya Sabha polls, the Maharashtra Legislative Council is likely to witness a thrilling contest with 11 in fray for 10 vacancies.

The ruling coalition, Maha Vikas Aghadi, has nominated six candidates: two each from Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress. The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party has nominated five.

The electoral college comprises the 288-member Maharashtra Legislative Assembly and the winning quote for one seat is 27 votes. Given the mathematics of the number of seats available and the candidates nominated, the election would be thrilling, to say the least.

The election would be held for the seats of retiring members—Ramraje Naik-Nimbalkar (who is the also the Chairman of Maharashtra Legislative Council) and Sanjay Dound from NCP; Diwakar Raote and Subhash Desai from Shiv Sena; Pravin Darekar, Prasad Lad and Sujitsinh Thakur from the BJP; Independent candidates Sadabhau Khot and Vinayak Mete.

While the BJP has re-nominated Darekar, who is also the current Leader of the Opposition, and Lad, the party has also brought in fresh faces: Prof Ram Shinde, Shrikant Bharatiya and Uma Khapre.

However, frontrunner Pankaja Munde from the Opposition party was denied a ticket.

Shiv Sena nominated two fresh candidates: Sachin Ahir and Amasha Padvi. Desai, who is the Industries, Mining and Marathi Language Minister in the MVA government, however, was missing from the nominations, hinting at a cabinet reshuffle.

When asked about the omission, Desai said: “I am not contesting...let me tell you that I was part of the team that selected the names (of new candidates).”

The Congress has re-nominated Mumbai Congress president Bhai Jagtap and Chandrakant Handore, a former Mumbai Mayor and an ex-minister.

The Sharad Pawar-led NCP will field two candidates but is yet to announce the names