Ailing BJP MLAs rush to Mumbai from Pune to vote in Legislative Council polls, say party comes first

While Kasba Peth MLA Mukta Tilak reached the Vidhan Bhawan in Mumbai around 11.15 am, Pimpri-Chinchwad MLA Laxman Jagtap, according to his office, left his constituency around 11 am and is expected to reach the state capital around 2.30 pm.

“Loyalty to the party matters to me… I did get a call from my party. I wanted to vote for my party,” Tilak told reporters outside the Vidhan Bhavan as she was received by BJP leaders Pravin Darekar and Girish Mahajan.

Mahajan said: “We had told the MLAs that they should make it only if they are in a condition to travel. Mukta-tai is in better condition than Laxmanbhau (Jagtap)… Our leader Devendra Fadnavis told Laxmanbhau not to come. But he insisted that he would make it… He is very enthusiastic to vote,” said Mahajan.

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“Despite our requests to them to avoid coming to Mumbai if their health does not permit it, both of them were eager to vote,” added Mahajan.

Despite serious health conditions, both Jagtap and Tilak had voted in the recent Rajya Sabha polls too. Opposition leader Fadnavis dedicated the BJP’s success to Jagtap and Tilak’s efforts and expressed gratitude for their dedication to the organisation.

Earlier this week, Jagtap had told The Indian Express: “I voted in Rajya Sabha (polls) because I am a party loyalist. For my party’s sake, I could not hold myself back. And in the end, both my and Mukta-tai’s vote proved decisive as our candidate won by a close margin.”

Jagtap had said that he would make it to the Council polls. “I am inspired by the praise showered on me by my party and my leaders. Devendra Fadnavisji’s reaction after our Rajya Sabha polls victory was heartening. He dedicated the victory to both me and Mukta-tai…Party comes first for us. And therefore in the Council polls too, I would be voting,” he had said.

The Legislative Council polls will take place till 4 pm and the counting will start after 5 pm. The results are expected after 8 pm. The BJP is ensuring that all its 106 MLAs vote in the Council polls. Apart from its own MLAs, it will need the support of 24 other MLAs to get all its five candidates elected in the Council polls.

Meanwhile, a Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) spokesperson said that MLAs Anil Deshmukh and Nawab Malik, who were arrested in separate money laundering cases, had moved the Supreme Court with a plea to allow them to cast their vote in the Council polls.