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Journalism of Courage
The victory of all nine candidates fielded by the ruling Mahayuti alliance in the Legislative Council elections held for 11 seats Friday has come as a setback for the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), which was riding high after its performance in the recent Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra.
Six MLAs of the Congress are believed to have cross-voted in favour of the ruling alliance, while the claims of leaders from the Sharad-Pawar led NCP faction that legislators from the Ajit Pawar camp were shifting towards them have been belied.
This will be a big boost for the Ajit-led NCP, which had been on the backfoot after the Lok Sabha polls, in which it won just one seat of the four it contested, the least among all the six major parties in the fray.
If Ajit proved his hold over the NCP MLAs with him, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde also established his command over the Shiv Sena legislators on his side.
Ironically, the Congress that had the most reasons to smile after the Lok Sabha results, having picked up more seats (13) than even the BJP (9), suffered the biggest blow Friday.
With the support of Independents, the BJP had a strength of 111 MLAs, helping the five candidates put up by it win. The Shinde Sena has 38 MLAs, including the CM, and claimed the support of two legislators of the Prahar Janashakti Party and seven Independents, taking its strength to 47. Two of its candidates won, indicating it got two extra votes. Ajit’s NCP has 39 MLAs and claimed the support of three Independents. Two of its candidates won, indicating the party got five more votes.
The numbers also hint that smaller parties such as the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (1), Rashtriya Samaj Party (1), the Independents and even the Samajwadi Party (2 MLAs) and AIMIM (2) voted for the ruling alliance.
Admitting that Congress MLAs had voted for the other side, party Maharashtra chief Nana Patole said: “We have identified the six MLAs who cross-voted despite a whip. A detailed report will be sent to the party high command and disciplinary action will be taken against all.” The Congress would not wait for a committee to decide to take action in the matter, Patole said.
What is more worrying for the Congress is that of its 37 MLAs, word had been around about four being in touch with the Ajit-led NCP. According to sources, the two additional MLAs who appear to have cross-voted are closely associated with Ashok Chavan, the former Congress CM who is now a Rajya Sabha MP of the BJP.
Apart from the Congress, the Legislative Council poll results are a setback to the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar). Seen as seeking to deal another blow to his nephew Ajit, Sharad Pawar had forced a contest for the 11 seats at stake by putting up a third candidate from the MVA side. The MVA had numbers to elect only two, but put up a third, Jayant Patil of the Peasants and Workers Party, backed by the NCP (SP). The latter – riding high after winning eight of the 10 seats it contested in the Lok Sabha polls – had been boasting that as many as 18 MLAs of the Ajit faction were in touch with the party.
In the end, not a single MLA seems to have cross-voted from the Ajit side.
The day belonged to the BJP, led by Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, who again proved itself a past master in managing the numerical game of Legislative Council elections. All the five leaders fielded by the party won, and in the process, achieved the balancing the BJP hoped to do, after the setback of the Lok Sabha polls. Its new MLCs include OBC faces Pankaja Munde, Yogesh Tilekar and Parinay Phuke; young Dalit leader Amit Gorkhe; and farmer leader Sadabhau Khot.
