After the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, where the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) won 30 of 48 seats, they have fielded three candidates for the Maharashtra MLC polls 2024. Amid possible cross-voting and horse-trading, political parties in the state have relocated their candidates to resorts and hotels.
Voting for the Maharashtra Legislative Council Election began on Friday (July 12) at 9 am. The biennial elections to 11 seats of the Council will go on till 4 pm and the counting of votes will begin at 5 pm. A total of 12 candidates are in the fray on 11 seats.
The 288-member legislative assembly is the electoral college for the polls and its current strength is 274. Each winning candidate would need a quota of 23 first-preference votes.
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The ruling BJP has fielded five candidates, and its allies, the Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar's NCP, each fielded two. In the Opposition MVA, the Congress and the Shiv Sena (UBT) have fielded one each, and there is one nominee from the PWP. The NCP (SP) has not fielded any candidate and is supporting the PWP's Jayant Patil.
The MVA does not have numbers on its side to get the third candidate elected, but it is banking on some MLAs of the NCP and the Shiv Sena, both constituents of Mahayuti, to cross-vote in their favour.