Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray, eight others elected to Legislative Council

The candidates, who were elected unopposed, included Shiv Sena’s Uddhav Thackeray and Neelam Gorhe; NCP’s Shashikant Shinde and Amol Mitkari; Congress’ Rajesh Rathod and BJP’s Gopichand Padalkar, Pravin Datke, Ranjitsinh Mohite Patil and Ramesh Karad.

While 14 nominations were filed for the nine seats, two candidates each from BJP and NCP withdrew while one independent candidate’s nomination was rejected during scrutiny.

Sources said that Uddhav and eight others are likely to take oath as members of the Legislative Council on Monday. “The oath-taking ceremony will be held on Monday at 1 pm in the central hall of the state legislature,” said a minister, adding that a few people would attend the ceremony.

Uddhav, who was sworn in as chief minister on November 28, 2019, had to become a member of the legislature by May 27. Else, he, along with his Cabinet, would have had to resign. Earlier this month, the Election Commission had announced the polls after Uddhav approached Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his intervention to avoid a constitutional crisis in the state.

Meanwhile, sources said that the Monsoon Session of the Legislature, which is scheduled to start from June 22, is likely to be deferred due to the Covid-19 pandemic. “A meeting of the Business Advisory Committee of state legislature has been called on Monday to discuss whether to defer the Monsoon Session,” said a minister.