Amid heavy and incessant rains in Mumbai on Friday, voting for the Maharashtra legislative council polls began signalling another Mahayuti versus MVA battle ahead of the assembly elections in the state later this year. A total of 222 MLAs cast their votes by 12:45 pm.
Biennial elections to 11 council seats are being held in the Vidhan Bhavan complex in south Mumbai till 4 pm. There are 12 candidates in the fray for the 11 seats in the upper house of the state legislature. The counting of votes will begin at 5 pm.
Eleven MLCs are completing their six-year term on July 27. The 288-member legislative assembly is the electoral college for the polls and its current strength is 274. Each winning candidate will need a quota of 23 first-preference votes.
The BJP is the largest party in the assembly with 103 members, followed by the Shiv Sena (38), NCP (42), Congress (37), Shiv Sena (UBT) 15 and NCP (SP) 10. Other parties with a presence in the lower house include the Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (three), Samajwadi Party (two), AIMIM (two), Prahar Janshakti Party (two), MNS, CPI(M), Swabhimani Paksh, Jansurajya Shakti Party, RSP, Krantikari Shetkari Paksh and PWP (one each). Besides, there are 13 independent MLAs.
Here are the latest updates:
- The Shiv Sena (UBT) demanded that the voting time for the Maharashtra legislative council polls should be extended by an hour due to heavy rains in Mumbai. Party MP Anil Desai said they will request the state electoral officer to extend the timings by an hour as it has been raining heavily in Mumbai since Thursday night (July 11).
- A total of 222 MLAs cast their vote till 12:45 pm.
- Chief Minister Eknath Shinde also cast his vote and said all the Independent MLAs from his faction have cast their votes.
- The Opposition parties – Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) also objected to jailed BJP MLA Ganpat Gaikwad being permitted to cast a vote.
- Early on Friday, NCP MLAs led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar left their hotel in a Mumbai suburb and boarded a private bus to reach the Vidhan Bhavan complex to cast their vote.
- The other deputy, Devendra Fadnavis, addressed BJP MLAs at a city hotel late on Thursday where chief minister and Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde was also present. The leaders urged the MLAs not to take the council polls lightly and ensure that no vote is rendered invalid.
- The BJP has fielded five candidates – Pankaja Munde, Yogesh Tilekar, Parinay Phuke, Amit Gorkhe Sadabhau Khot – and its ally Shiv Sena two – former Lok Sabha MPs Krupal Tumane and Bhavana Gawali. Another Mahayuti ally NCP has given tickets to Shivajirao Garje and Rajesh Vitekar.
- The Congress has renominated Pradnya Satav for another term, while its Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) partner, Sena (UBT), has fielded Milind Narvekar — a close aide of party president Uddhav Thackeray. The third MVA constituent, NCP (SP), has not fielded its nominee and instead extended support to Jayant Patil of the PWP.
- The Congress has excess votes since it has fielded only one candidate. There are apprehensions of cross-voting in both the ruling Mahayuti and opposition MVA blocs.
- The MVA does not have numbers on its side to get the third candidate elected but is banking on some NCP and Shiv Sena MLAs — both constituents of Mahayuti — to cross-vote in their favour.
- Over the last few days, the NCP (SP) has claimed that some MLAs of the rival camp led by Ajit Pawar are in touch with the opposition party for a possible return.
(With PTI inputs)
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