Uddhav Thackeray to become MLC unopposed after Congress withdraws nomination
MUMBAI: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray is set to become MLC unopposed after the Congress decided to withdraw the nomination of one of its candidates.Thackeray is set to file his papers on May 11.
The state Congress decided to withdraw the nomination of its second candidate, Raj Kishor Modi for polls to State Legislative Council which is scheduled on 21 May. Thackeray’s chief ministerial position was under threat as if he does not become a member of the council by May 28 then being a non-member he would have to resign.
Earlier, after the grand old party announced its second nominee for the May 21 election to nine seats Thackeray conveyed the polls should be “unopposed”. The 288-member Maharashtra Assembly forms the electoral college for the polls, and a candidate needs 29 votes to win. The Congress has 44 MLAs and the last day of filing nomination is May 11 with the scrutiny of nominations on May 12 followed by the last date of withdrawal of papers on May 14.
State Congress president Balasaheb Thorat said, “We have decided to field only one out of two nominees for the MLC elections, which means the MVA (Maha Vikas Aghadi of Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress) will have five nominees for as many seats (out of the total nine),” a PTI report said.
Uddhav, who is not a member of either Houses of the state legislature, is one of the nominees for the elections, which became necessary after terms of the sitting MLCs ended on April 24.
At present, BJP has 105 seats in Legislative Assembly. 10 independent MLAs support BJP. Shiv Sena has 56, NCP has 54 and Congress has 44 seats. 19 MLAs are from other parties. The Maha Vikas Aghadi has the support of 16 Independent candidates. Based on these numbers, the BJP can win 3 Legislative Council seats and Maha Vikas Aghadi 5 seats on their own.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) on 1 May had granted permission for holding elections to the Legislative Council (MLCs) in Maharashtra on 21 May, which will pave way for CM Uddhav Thackeray to become a member of the Legislative Council.
The development came days after Uddhav spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and told him that attempts were being made to create political instability in the state.
(Bureau Report with Agency Inputs).
