Maharashtra CM Thackeray, 8 others elected unopposed to Legislative Council
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and eight others were elected unopposed to the state Legislative Council on Thursday. The development comes two days after five of the 14 nominations were either withdrawn or rejected on technical grounds, paving the way for Thackeray and others. The Maharashtra Legislative Council election was scheduled for nine seats. Here are more details.
Among the nine persons elected to the Upper House of the state legislature, two are from the Shiv Sena, including Thackeray and Council Deputy Chairperson Neelam Gorhe. The seven others who were elected include four BJP candidates (Ranjitsinh Mohite Patil, Gopichand Padalkar, Praveen Datke, and Ramesh Karad), two NCP candidates (Shashikant Shinde and Amol Mitkari), and one Congress candidate (Rajesh Rathod).
The seats had fallen vacant on April 24 after the tenure of nine members ended. The results were declared after the deadline for withdrawal of nominations ended at 3 pm (Thursday). It was vital for Thackeray to be elected to the state legislature before May 28 to continue serving as CM. He will take oath as a member of the state legislature on Monday.
On Tuesday, BJP's Dr. Ajit Gopchade and Sandeep Lele had withdrawn their nominations from the election. Dummy forms submitted by the NCP's Kiran Pawaskar and Shivajirao Garje had also been withdrawn. Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said that any contest amid a pandemic would send a wrong message. A fifth nomination form filed by Independent candidate Shehbaj Rathod was rejected on technical grounds.
Thackeray had taken oath as Maharashtra CM on November 28 when he was neither a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) nor a Member of the State Legislative Council (MLC). He needed to be elected to either House within six months' time. Notably, Uddhav Thackeray has now become the second member of the Thackeray clan to join the legislature after his son, Aaditya Thackeray.
