Maharashtra MLC polls: BJP corporator joins Congress; pitted against ex-Minister in Nagpur

In an interesting turn of events in Maharashtra politics, senior BJP leader and 4-time corporator Ravindra Bhoyar joined Congress on Monday and was given the ticket to contest the MLC election from Nagpur on the same day. Bhoyar, who switched allegiance to the Sonia Gandhi-led party in the presence of Maharashtra Ministers Nitin Raut and Sunil Kedar, comes from an RSS background. He has been pitted against BJP's Chandrashekhar Bawankule who served as the Energy Minister in the erstwhile Devendra Fadnavis-led government. 

After Bawankule filed his nomination papers on Monday, Fadnavis briefed the media, "We are extremely happy that our associate like Chandrashekhar Bawankule will enter the Legislature once again. He worked extremely well as a Minister. He proved himself as an alert public representative. In the last two years, he worked extremely well as the party's general secretary. I feel that he has got the receipt of that work today. We are confident that we will secure an unprecedented victory under the leadership of Nitin Gadkari." 

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. 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). 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".