The opposition party has refused to withdraw its third candidate for the June 10 election
The opposition party has refused to withdraw its third candidate for the June 10 election
Rejecting the proposal of the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) for an additional seat in next month’s Legislative Council elections, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party On Friday, the party decided not to withdraw its third candidate. June 10 biennial Rajya Sabha electionsCompetition paved the way for the sixth seat.
A delegation of MVA comprising minister and senior NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal, minister and Congress leader Sunil Kedar and Shiv Sena leader Anil Desai held a meeting with Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis and state BJP chief Chandrakant Patil on Friday. The delegation moved a motion to postpone the elections on June 10.
Since the elections will be held on June 10, Shiv Sena has directed all its MLAs to be present in Mumbai before June 8 and all its MLAs and independent candidates will be accommodated at Hotel Trident till the polls are over. The NCP has already approached the court to allow its two jailed MLAs Anil Deshmukh and Nawab Malik to vote in the elections.
“We offered them an additional seat in the state council if they back the third candidate in the Rajya Sabha election. This would have ensured that both these elections were unopposed,” Mr. Bhujbal said after the meeting.
BJP’s counterattack
Rejecting the proposal, the BJP submitted a counter-proposal to the MVA. “We told them that we being a national party will contest the Rajya Sabha elections and will not contest the council elections in return,” Mr Patil said, adding that the BJP is confident of contesting and winning three Rajya Sabha seats. Mr. Patil said that in any case, the decision to withdraw the nomination of the official BJP candidate was not within the power of the State Committee, but Delhi would have to accept it. “We told Delhi our stand and they expressed satisfaction over what we have done,” he said.
As both sides rejected the offer and counter-offer, seven candidates were in the fray for six seats as June 3 was the last day for withdrawal of nominations.
As per the current count, each candidate needs 42 votes to be elected to the Rajya Sabha. As a result of the death of one of its MLAs, the strength of the Shiv Sena is 55, while that of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is 53 and that of the Congress is 44. Based on this, three candidates of MVA will be selected. rest.
For the BJP, with the support of its 106 MLAs and six others (including four independents), two of its candidates are sure to win. In the sixth seat, there is a contest between Sanjay Pawar of Shiv Sena and Dhananjay Mahadik of BJP.
The NCP has already announced the transfer of its additional votes to ally Shiv Sena’s second candidate Sanjay Pawar. Apart from the three parties, Prahar (2), Krantikari Shetkari Party (1) are part of the state government. It can get the support of Samajwadi Party (2), CPI(M) (1), Swabhimani Party (1), Kisan and Shramik Party (1) and nine independents.
Three MLAs of Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA), two from AIMIM and a lone MLA of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) have not yet opened their cards.