Voting for elections to 10 seats in the Maharashtra Legislative Council began in the state Legislature complex here on Monday morning. The polling process, which commenced at 9 am, will end at 4 pm and the results will be declared in the evening. A total of 11 candidates are in the fray for the 10 seats, with the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies – Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress – fielding two candidates each. The opposition BJP in the state has nominated five candidates.
Maharashtra Nationalist Congress Party leaders and MLAs Nawab Malik and Anil Deshmukh have moved the Supreme Court seeking temporary release from prison to cast their votes in the MLC polls, which is underway. A vacation bench of Justices C T Ravikumar and Sudhanshu Dhulia took note of the submissions of senior advocate Meenakshi Arora, appearing for the jailed lawmakers, that the plea needed to be heard on Monday itself as the polling is being held today.
The bench said such matters have to go before the Chief Justice of India (CJI) first before allowing an urgent listing. “In respect of matters listed during the vacation, there is a circular and the matter has to go before the CJI,” the bench said. However, it took note of the vehement submission of the senior lawyer and said it would see whether the matter can be taken up for hearing in the afternoon.
While the tenure of nine sitting members of the Legislative Council is coming to an end on July 7, the election for the 10th seat was necessitated following the death of a BJP legislator earlier this year.
The nine retiring members of the Legislative Council are its present Chairman Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar and Sanjay Daund (both NCP), Leader of Opposition Pravin Darekar, Sujitsinh Thakur, Prasad Lad (all BJP), Maratha leader Vinayak Mete and former minister Sadabhau Khot (both allies of the BJP), state Industries Minister Subhash Desai and Diwakar Raote (both Shiv Sena). The tenth seat fell vacant following the death of BJP MLC R N Singh.
The NCP has fielded Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar and former minister Eknath Khadse, who had quit the BJP to join the Sharad Pawar-led party. The Shiv Sena has nominated Sachin Ahir and Amshya Padvi, a party functionary from the tribal-dominated Nandurbar district.
The Congress has fielded Mumbai Congress chief Bhai Jagtap and former minister Chandrakant Handore. The BJP has renominated outgoing MLCs Darekar and Lad, and given tickets to Ram Shinde, Uma Khapre and Shrikant Bharatiya.
The state MLAs form the electoral college for the MLC elections. The effective strength of the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly is reduced to 285 following the death of Shiv Sena MLA Ramesh Latke, while two NCP MLAs – Nawab Malik and Anil Deshmukh – are currently in jail and are not allowed to vote by the high court.
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