New Delhi: Five candidates of Maharashtra’s ruling alliance and five of the BJP got elected to the Legislative Council today amid apparent cross-voting by Congress members, ND TV reported.
The contest for the 10th seat was a prestige battle for the state’s ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi after the upset in the recently held Rajya Sabha election, where the Shiv Sena candidate was defeated.
Of the two candidates fielded by the Congress — Bhai Jagtap and Chandrakant Handore, only the former won while the NCP nominees — Ramraje Nimbalkar and Eknath Khadse — and the Shiv Sena nominees — Aamshya Padavi and Sachin Ahir — bagged seats in the MLC polls.
Five candidates of the BJP—Pravin Darekar, Ram Shinde, Shrikant Bharatiya, Uma Khapre & Prasad Lad have registered victory in the legislative council elections.
A total of 11 candidates were in the fray for 10 Maharashtra Legislative Council seats, with the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA allies) – Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress – fielding two candidates each.
The BJP has 106 MLAs and the Shiv Sena 55 and the NCP 51. While the Congress has 44 MLAs, smaller parties and independents together have 29 MLAs.
Sources said 44 Congress MLAs were present in the assembly, but the results made it clear that only 41 MLAs have voted for the Congress in first preference. Three Congress MLAs have cross-voted.
The elections were necessitated as the tenure of nine sitting members of the legislative council is coming to an end on July 7, while the election for the 10th seat was held following the death of a BJP legislator earlier this year.