Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray to become MLC unopposed after Congress withdraws nomination

Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray is set to enter the Legislative Council unopposed after the Congress announced that it would withdraw one of its two nominees for the May 21 elections to nine seats. The announcement from Congress came on Sunday (May 10). 

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.

Earlier in the day, Shiv Sena senior leader Sanjay Raut has stated that Uddhav was not willing to contest the election unless elected unopposed. He added that the party had sent a message to Balasaheb Thorat to withdraw the party's second candidate.

In spite of not having enough numbers, the Congress had decided to field two candidates for Legislative Council elections. The elections are due for May 21 for 9 seats in the Council. In order to win a seat, the candidate must bag 29 'first preference' votes.

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.