Mumbai:After the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP-led Mahayuti and the Maha Bikash Aghadi (MVA) will clash in the polls for 11 seats in the Maharashtra Assembly elected by state legislators. Going by the Congress’ strength, the BJP-led Mahayuti can easily win nine seats and the MVA two. But with the Shiv Sena (UBT) now planning to enter the fray, the elections are unlikely to be held unopposed.
The BJP is likely to field a Muslim candidate for the council, while Sharad Pawar’s Congress party is likely to back PWP leader Jayant Patil, whose term ends in July.
Maharashtra has a powerful legislative body of 288 members. Seven of the 288 have resigned after being elected to the Lok Sabha in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections. In addition to this, four seats have fallen vacant following the resignation of four state assembly members – Govardhan Sharma, Rajendra Patni of the BJP, PN Patil of the Indian National Congress and Anil Babbar of the Shiv Sena. Ashok Chavan and Raju Parve of the Indian National Congress resigned from the assembly ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. Indian National Congress member Sunil Kedar was disqualified after being convicted in a corruption case.
According to a state legislative official, there are 274 electoral college votes, with 23 to be elected, so to win on the first ballot, each state’s electoral college votes must receive 23 of those votes. “The vote will be a secret ballot,” he said.
In Mahayuti, the BJP has 103 members, followed by Ajit Pawar’s NCP with 40 and Shiv Sena with 38. Meanwhile, in the MVA, the Indian National Congress has 37 members, Shiv Sena (UBT) with 15 and Sharad Pawar’s NCP (SP) with 12. As the elections will be held by secret ballot, both the camps are apprehensive of cross-voting.
The BJP leader said that with the support of 15 independents, the party’s strength has reached 118. “Five seats can be won easily. Hence, we will field candidates now,” he said.
He said Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar-led NCP will contest two seats each.
A Shiv Sena (UBT) leader said they are in dialogue with the Congress to secure their support in the assembly elections. “As there are 15 Congress members, we need only eight to get our candidate elected. If the Congress agrees to support our candidate, we will field our candidate,” a Shiv Sena (UBT) leader said.
The NCP(SP) leader said they will field a joint candidate with the MVA to boost the confidence of small voters who supported the party in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections. “PWP leader Jayant Patil will be the joint candidate of the MVA. He will be supported by the Samajwadi Party, Communist Party of India and independents,” the NCP(SP) leader said.
A senior Congress leader said they would consider giving electoral nominations to leaders of minority communities. “Ahead of the Assembly elections, we have to appease the Muslim community. We did not give electoral nominations to Muslim candidates in the Lok Sabha elections. Hence, we will give electoral nominations to Muslim candidates for the Assembly,” he said.
