MUMBAI: Post Rajya Sabha polls, Maharashtra is set to witness yet another election where votes of Independents and small parties can make a crucial difference. The biennial election of the state legislative council is due June 20. The principal contenders in the high-voltage fight are Congress and the saffron party.
As per Election Commission’s program, Monday was the last day to withdraw nominations. The BJP-supported independent candidate Sarabhau Khoth withdrew his nomination and so did the NCP candidate Shivjirao Gajre.
The opposition BJP has fielded five candidates, while ruling MVA allies, the Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena, have nominated two candidates each. Thus, there are 11 candidates in the fray for 10 seats in the state’s upper house.
The quota for legislative council election will be 25.91 votes considering the strength of parties in the 285-member assembly as the Shiv Sena has lost sitting legislator Ramesh Latke while NCP legislators Nawab Malik and Anil Deshmukh are in jail. Anil Deshmukh once again approached the Bombay High Court to get permission for voting.
The main fight will be between Congress’ second candidate Bhai Jagtap, who is the Mumbai party chief and BJP’s Prasad Lad. In the recent Rajya Sabha elections, BJP defeated Sena candidate Sanjay Pawar by poaching 12 votes of the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi.
Pawar chairs party meet
NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Monday chaired a meeting with top leaders of his party to discuss the results of the RS polls, upcoming Legislative Council polls and the Presidential polls.