Maha Vikas Aghadi, BJP gear up for Maharashtra Legislative Council polls

The ensuing elections to the Maharashtra Legislative Council are going to be a keen contest to watch.

That the Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray will have a smooth sailing is a forgone conclusion.

The efforts of the ruling Sena-NCP-Congress Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) and the Opposition BJP are hoping that the polls go unopposed but no one is ready to concede.

The election to the nine seats of the Council is scheduled to be held on April 21. The electoral college is the 288-member Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. The quota for winning candidates is 29 votes.

While the MVA can easily get six seats, the BJP can get three but the latter has the support of independents and they would go in for the fourth seat. The fight, if one goes by the numerical order, will be for the ninth seat.

The BJP's own strength is 105 seats while MVA allies Sena, NCP and Congress have 56, 54 and 44 seats, respectively.

The other parties contesting include Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (3), Samajwadi Party (2), AIMIM (2), Prahar Janshakti Party (2) and one each from Peasants and Workers Party, Swabhimani Paksha, Krantikari Shetkari Paksha, Rashtriya Samaj Paksha, Jansurajya Party, CPI(M) and MNS. There are 13 independents.