Out of the seven MLC seats, the ruling coalition of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has got three, and the Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) have got two each.
| Photo Credit: YouTube/MAHARASHTRA LEGISLATURE SECRETARIAT
Just hours before the Election Commission announced the Maharashtra Assembly elections, the swearing-in ceremony of seven newly appointed Members of the Legislative Council (MLCs) took place at Vidhan Bhavan in Mumbai on Tuesday. These MLCs were appointed by the Governor of Maharashtra, and their oath was administered by Deputy Chairperson of the Maharashtra Legislative Council Neelam Gorhe.
The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) has challenged the nominations in the Bombay High Court.
Maharashtra’s 288-seat Assembly will head to the polls on November 20, in an election that will pit the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition—comprising the Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar), and Congress—against the Mahayuti Alliance of the BJP, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, and NCP of Ajit Pawar. All seven MLCs sworn in on Tuesday belong to the Mahayuti parties.
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The appointments followed the Maharashtra Cabinet’s decision on Monday to clear seven out of 12 names for the MLC appointment, which subsequently received approval from Governor C.P. Radhakrishnan. Now, five MLC positions remain vacant.
Among those appointed, Chief Minister Shinde nominated former Lok Sabha MP Hemant Patil and former MLC Manisha Kayande. The BJP’s picks included Dharmaguru Babusingh Maharaj Rathod, Chitra Wagh, and Vikrant Patil. Mr. Rathod heads the Washim-based Poharadevi Sansthan, a key institution for the Gor Banjara community. Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently visited Washim. Ms. Wagh is the president of the BJP’s women’s wing in Maharashtra. A former member of the undivided NCP whose husband Vikrant Patil was facing corruption allegations since 2016, she joined the BJP ahead of the 2019 Assembly elections.
The case was quashed in 2023 by the Bombay High Court.
The NCP nominated Pankaj Bhujbal, son of State Minister Chhagan Bhujbal, and Idris Naikwadi, the former mayor of the Sangli, Miraj and Kupwad Municipal Corporation.
Meanwhile, before the swearing-in ceremony, the Maharashtra government informed the Bombay High Court that there was no legal obstacle in proceeding with the appointments of the seven MLCs. Advocate General Birendra Saraf told a division bench led by Chief Justice D.K. Upadhyaya and Justice Amit Borkar that no stay or injunction had been issued by the court, nor had the government promised to delay the appointments.
Withdrawal of MVA list
This assurance came in response to a petition filed by Shiv Sena (UBT) functionary Sunil Modi, who had challenged the withdrawal of a list of 12 MLC nominees submitted to the Governor in 2020 by the previous MVA government. Mr. Modi’s advocate, Harshad Shrikandhe, brought to the court’s attention the new development of appointing the seven MLCs, despite a pending order on the petition.
The petitioner, Sunil Modi, had argued that the decision of the Eknath Shinde-led government to withdraw the recommendations made by the previous Uddhav Thackeray administration for the 12 nominated MLC seats was improper. Following the change in government in 2022, when Eknath Shinde became the Chief Minister, the new Cabinet informed the Governor that it was retracting the list of nominees proposed by the earlier MVA government. On September 5, 2022, the Governor accepted this withdrawal, and the list was returned to the Chief Minister’s Office.
During the court hearing, the Bench inquired whether any of the newly appointed MLCs were part of the original list of 12 nominees. Advocate General Saraf clarified that none of the new appointees were from the withdrawn list. He further stated that there were no legal constraints preventing the appointments from moving forward.
Published – October 15, 2024 01:21 pm IST
