RS polls: Voting under way in Maharashtra; close fight between Shiv Sena and BJP for sixth seat

A total of seven candidates are in fray for six seats

The voting process for the cliffhanger Rajya Sabha elections in Maharashtra to fill six vacancies have started. It is an election in which the opposition BJP is attempting hard to bring the fissures within the Maha Vikas Aghadi to the fore.

A total of seven candidates are in fray for the six seats.

The BJP candidates in fray are Piyush Goyal, Anil Bonde and Dhananjay Mahadik. The MVA candidates are Sanjay Raut and Sanjay Pawar (Shiv Sena), Praful Patel (NCP) and Imran Pratapgarhi (Congress).

The electoral college comprises the 288-member Maharashtra Legislative Assembly but the actual strength is 287 as Shiv Sena MLA Ramesh Latke passed away last month.

The Bombay High Court, meanwhile, will hear the petition for a temporary day-long bail for jailed MLAs of NCP Anil Deshmukh and Nawab Malik.

The quota for winning the seat is 41 or 42 depending on what decision the court takes vis-a-vis the two NCP leaders. Given the arithmetic, the battle is between Pawar and Mahadik. Incidentally, both of them are from Kolhapur.

In a last-minute development, AIMIM President Asaduddin Owaisi has asked its two MLAs to vote for Pratapgarhi, the Congress candidate. However, the Hitendra Thakur-led Bahujan Vikas Aghadi, which has three seats, and had supported the MVA during the confidence motion, is yet to announce its position.

The Samajwadi Party, which has two MLAs and CPI(M), which has one MLA, will vote for MVA. “We will win all the four seats,” said Raut, adding that the MVA has a strength of 169.

However, Bonde said that all three BJP candidates would win. “One of the Sanjays would lose in the election,” he said.

“We do not know on what basis BJP has put up a third candidate, they do not have numbers,” said state textiles minister Aslam Shaikh.