MLC Polls: Amid speculations over the possibility of cross-voting and horsetrading in the polls for the 11 Legislative Council seats scheduled for Friday in Maharashtra, Congress on Thursday held a dinner meeting at a hotel in Mumbai. Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray and NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) Maharashtra unit chief Jayant Patil attended the meeting. The meeting was significant as Congress MLAs and MVA partners discussed the opposition strategy for Friday's biennial elections.
AICC in-charge of Maharashtra Ramesh Chennithala was also present at the city hotel where his party colleague and Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the state Assembly Vijay Wadettiwar sat together to counter the ruling alliance. Peasants and Workers Party (PWP) candidate Jayant Patil, who is seeking re-election as MLC and is being supported by the NCP (SP), attended the dinner meeting. The Congress, the NCP (SP) and the Shiv Sena (UBT) are constituents of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA).
On the other hand, ruling alliance - Mahayuti - also held meetings in different hotels in the city. Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde met Shiv Sena (Shinde) MLAs at Taj Lands End in Bandra.
12th candidate makes contest interesting
Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Anil Desai, party leader Vinayak Raut and Thackeray's close aide Milind Narvekar, who is the 12th candidate in the fray, were also present. The Congress has re-nominated sitting MLC Pradnya Satav and has 14 extra votes after fulfilling the quota of 23 ballots for her.
Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs), who form the electoral college for the polls, will gather in Vidhan Bhavan complex in south Mumbai where voting will take place from 9 am to 4 pm. Counting of votes will be taken up at 5 pm.
Each winning candidate would need a quota of 23 first-preference votes. The 288-member legislative assembly is the electoral college for the polls and its current strength is 274.
The Congress has 37 MLAs, the Shiv Sena (UBT) 15 and the NCP (SP) 10. The Congress has issued a whip to its MLAs, asking them to vote as per the party directive. As per the directive, it is mandatory for all party MLAs to vote for the MVA candidates.
The BJP has fielded five candidates, its allies Shiv Sena and the NCP two each. In the opposition MVA, the Congress and the Shiv Sena (UBT) have fielded one each and there is one nominee from the PWP. The NCP (SP) has not fielded any candidate and is supporting PWP's Jayant Patil.
The council elections are taking place just three months ahead of the assembly polls in the state.
(With PTI inputs)
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