The voting for 10 Maharashtra legislative council seats began on Monday morning with the ruling Shiv Sena, Congress, and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) fielding two candidates each. The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is contesting five seats. The ruling parties can win five and BJP four seats on their own. They are banking on 29 lawmakers from smaller parties and independents to wrest the 10th seat.
The BJP won its third seat in the Rajya Sabha polls this month thanks to the support of independents. To avoid the situation, Shiv Sena has decided to transfer its four surplus votes to Congress candidate Bhai Jagtap.
A Sena leader said the Congress is short of at least 10 votes while the Sena has about five excess votes. “…votes required to win a seat is 26. The strategy for the polls was chalked out under the guidance of chief minister Uddhav Thackeray till late last [Sunday] night,” said the leader, requesting anonymity.
The lawmakers from all the four major parties arrived for the polling in buses from five-star hotels, where they have been lodged for the last two days to avoid poaching.
State BJP chief Chandrakant Patil said they are confident about the victory of all their candidates. “The parties that believe in the politics of deals are levelling the charges of horse-trading on us.”