Maharashtra: 6 Legislative Council seats to go to polls; ticket likely for Somaiya & Tawde

In a key development, sources told Republic TV that former Minister Vinod Tawde and ex-Lok Sabha MP Kirit Somaiya are in the race to get BJP's ticket for the MLC polls. The election will be held for 6 seats of the Maharashtra Legislative Council on December 10 which will coincide with the winter session of the state legislature whereas the counting of votes shall take place on December 14. Incidentally, Tawde and Somaiya were denied the candidature for the 2019 Assembly polls and Lok Sabha election respectively. 

While Tawde is serving as BJP's Haryana in-charge, Somaiya was removed as the vice president of the party's state unit in July earlier this earlier. As per sources, Maharashtra BJP vice president Chitra Wagh ex-Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule and Sanjay Upadhyay are some of the other contenders from BJP. The poll-bound seats are held by Ramdas Kadam (Shiv Sena), Bhai Jagtap (Congress), Satej Patil (Congress), Amrish Patel (BJP), Gopikishan Bajoria (Shiv Sena) and Girish Vyas (BJP) from Nagpur. Although BJP is the single-largest party in the Legislative Council at present with 24 seats, the Maha Vikas Aghadi has 40 MLCs. 

MVA finalises list of 12 nominees 

On November 6, 2020, the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra finalized the list of 12 nominated members to the Maharashtra Legislative Council. The Governor is mandated by the Constitution to nominate to the legislative council 12 members from the fields of literature, art, science, cooperative movement, and social service on the recommendation of the state government. As per sources, actor and former Congress leader Urmila Matondkar, Chandrakant Raghuwanshi, Vijay Karanjkar, and Nitin Bangude Patil have been selected from the Shiv Sena quota.

Sources added that ex-BJP leader Eknath Khadse, former Lok Sabha MP Raju Shetti, Yashpal Bhinge, and Anand Shinde have been chosen by NCP. On the other hand, Congress has reportedly shortlisted spokesperson Sachin Sawant, Muzaffar Hussain, and Aniruddha Vankar. NCP's Nawab Malik, Congress' Amit Deshmukh, and Shiv Sena's Anil Parab- Ministers in the state government formally handed over the list of names to Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari at the Raj Bhavan. However, Koshyari is yet to clear the list despite the Bombay HC's ruling that he has to decide on the nominations within "reasonable time".