Maharashtra Rajya Sabha polls: Sena, BJP set for fierce contest for sixth seat

The last date for withdrawing nominations for the June 10 polls—June 3—saw an MVA delegation of Chhangan Bhujbal, Anil Desai and Sunil Kedar meet Leader of the Opposition Devendra Fadnavis to request the BJP to withdraw Mhadik, its third candidate, to avoid a contest in the elections.

The BJP is the single-largest party and has 30 surplus votes. It also has the support of 12 independent legislators, taking its tally up to 42. But the collective surplus votes of the Sena, Congress and the NCP will come only to 30. The number of votes required for a candidate to win the election is 42.

As part of the bargain, the MVA delegation promised to concede an additional seat to the BJP in the coming Legislative Council polls. Ten Council seats are up for election on June 20. However, Fadnavis rejected the proposal and asked the ruling coalition to withdraw one of its candidates and accept an additional Council seat in return.

For the Sena, any decision to concede an additional Council seat would not be possible without the support of the Congress and the NCP. With both sides refusing to budge from their stated positions, the election to the sixth seat is going to see a fierce contest.

Fadnavis said, “We are confident of getting all three candidates elected. Where is the question of withdrawing from the race? The BJP is a pan-India party. Every Rajya Sabha seat is important for us.”

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, NCP minister Bhujbal said, “We put forward a proposal before the BJP. We urged them to withdraw their third candidate from the Rajya Sabha polls. In exchange, we offered them one additional seat in the Legislative Council. The BJP has turned down the proposal.”

State NCP president Jayant Patil said the ruling coalition wanted to avoid horse trading. “We were expecting the BJP to show flexibility. As there has been a tradition of unopposed polls to the Rajya Sabha for several years. We did not want a contest,” he said.

However, state BJP president Chandrakant Patil attributed the contest to the Sena’s refusal to withdraw its second candidate, Pawar.

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had convened a meeting with all 29 independents and smaller parties requesting their support for the Sena candidate in the Rajya Sabha polls. The Sena also held discussions with the Congress and the NCP, its allies.

Sena candidate Raut alleged the BJP wanted to promote horse trading. “The BJP, by imposing the contest, is promoting horse trading. The independent candidates will be subjected to pressure from central agencies and forced to pledge support to the BJP candidates,” he said.

The total strength of the Assembly is 288 but the number of voters will be 287, one Sena MLA, Ramesh Lake, having died last month. Party-wise numbers are as follows: BJP-105, Sena-55, Congress-44 and NCP-54, independents and smaller parties-29.

After getting its official candidate elected, the Congress is left with two surplus votes. The NCP has 12 surplus votes which it has promised to pass on to the Sena.

For its part, the Sena will be left with 13 surplus votes. Taken together, the surplus votes of the Congress, NCP and the Sena amount to 27, which means the Sena will still require 15 votes from outside the coalition to get Pawar elected. It is banking on support from smaller parties and independents.

The contest between Mhadik and Pawar will be neck and neck.