Journalism of Courage
The ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance in Maharashtra suffered a setback as the BJP managed to win the closely contested sixth Rajya Sabha seat by mustering up the required numbers with the help of smaller parties and Independents despite being in the Opposition.
“Rajya Sabha was just a trailer. Wait and watch what we do next,” former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis said after the party’s victory.
The ruling coalition of the Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and the Congress failed to draw up an effective strategy to stop the BJP’s third candidate, Dhananjay Mahadik, from winning. According to BJP insiders, it was Fadnavis’ decision to field a third candidate and the strategy paid off.
With this victory, the BJP has managed to trump its old ally Sena, which switched sides to join hands with the Congress and the NCP after the 2019 Assembly polls. Though the BJP emerged as the single-largest party with 105 seats, it was forced to sit in the Opposition as the MVA alliance emerged. The victory, according to political observers, sends out a message that the smaller parties that seemed to be on the ruling coalition’s side are no longer happy with it.
While the Sena not only managed to get its second candidate, Sanjay Pawar, elected, its winning candidate Sanjay Raut also polled the lowest votes (41) among all the winning candidates. Sena MLA Suhas Kande’s vote being declared invalid and NCP MLAs Anil Deshmukh and Nawab Malik not being allowed to vote as they are in jail do not explain the Sena’s poor showing.
Driving home the point, Fadnavis told reporters, “It is a convincing victory for the BJP and it is not just adding up of numbers. Had even Nawab Malik been allowed to cast his vote in the election and even if Sena had not lost one of its votes, the BJP would have still won the third seat.”
With 41 votes required for the candidates to win, the alliance required 164 votes to get its four nominees — Praful Patel of the NCP, Imran Pratapgarhi of the Congress, and Raut and Pawar from Sena — elected.
The alliance had 152 votes (the Congress 44, the NCP 53, and the Sena 55) and had to get 12 additional votes from smaller parties to send Pawar to the Upper House of Parliament. These smaller parties and Independents make up 29 votes in the 288-member Assembly. Though the Sena-led alliance claimed in the run-up to the polls that it had the support of 16 such votes in its pocket, Pawar’s defeat shows it had overestimated its support among the smaller parties and Independents.
After this, the focus will now shift to the June 20 MLC elections in which 10 seats are at stake. The three MVA parties have fielded two candidates each. The BJP has five candidates in the race and is backing an Independent. Unlike the Rajya Sabha polls, the state council elections are held through secret voting.
“We have to exercise caution, the BJP will indulge in rampant horse-trading to get its candidates elected in council,” alleged a senior minister belonging to the Shiv Sena. “Unlike the BJP, we have to ensure our allies Congress and NCP help us in drawing up foolproof plans.”
