Mahayuti-MVA trade charges following council results
After legislative council election results in Mumbai, ruling and opposition parties trade charges over cross-voting and bribery, creating a political crisis.
Mumbai: A day after the legislative council election results, the ruling and opposition parties traded charges over the outcome of the polls with leaders claiming cross-voting and blaming bribery. The Maha Vikas Aghadi went into a crisis-management mode as the ruling Mahayuti got more votes than expected.
Mumbai BJP chief Ashish Shelar saw a perfect opportunity to taunt the opposition by claiming that 15 MLAs from their camp voted for the ruling party candidates. It included seven from Congress and two from Shiv Sena (UBT), he said. “It is not just Congress, at least two MLAs from Shiv Sena (UBT) voted for the ruling party candidates,” Shelar said on Saturday. “UBT should not claim that their MLAs did not resort to cross-voting,” he added.
The ruling alliance Mahayuti won nine seats while the opposition MVA could win two. One of the opposition candidates lost while several MLAs from the MVA camp cross-voted in favour of ruling party candidates.
BJP’s five candidates, two each from the ruling allies Shiv Sena and NCP while one from Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) won the elections to the state legislative council.
Meanwhile, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut alleged that ₹20 to ₹25 crore were given to MLAs who cross-voted for ruling parties. In a few cases the MLAs were also given 2 acres of land, he alleged. “People will show the ruling parties their place in the coming assembly elections,” he added.
Peasants and Workers Party (PWP leader Jayant Patil who lost the election alleged that one of the 12 MLAs from Pawar-led NCP (SP) did not vote for him. He expressed unhappiness that Congress did not give him second preference votes but insisted that his party would continue with the MVA coalition.
“I lost because of large-scale horse-trading. One NCP MLA did vote for me. Further, even our allies like CPI (M) did not vote for me which is really sad,” Patil said.
NCP (SP) leader Jitendra Awhad, however, refuted Patil’s allegations. “None of our 12 MLAs from our party voted for the ruling parties. Once Sharad Pawar tells us to vote for a particular candidate, all of us will vote for the same. Nobody would think otherwise,” he said.
Awhad also appealed to people to “teach lessons to the MLAs who were sold out.” “Hit them with footwear for betraying their parties,” he said.
Cong to meet on July 19 to decide future course of action
A meeting of the state Congress is organised in Mumbai in the presence of AICC in charge of Maharashtra Congress, Ramesh Chennithala. The party is expected to decide on taking action against seven MLAs who are suspected to have voted for the ruling parties.
The indication to this effect was given by state Congress president Nana Patole on Friday. He said he has sent a report to the party leadership and is awaiting the latter’s nod to take action.
Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar posted, “We contested the legislative council election to find out who were the traitors. We have found it. Now the garbage in the party will be cleaned.” He added that those who are guilty of voting against the party line would face action.



Stay updated with all the Breaking News and Latest News from Mumbai. Click here for comprehensive coverage of top Cities including Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad, and more across India along with Stay informed on the latest happenings in World News.
Stay updated with all the Breaking News and Latest News from Mumbai. Click here for comprehensive coverage of top Cities including Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad, and more across India along with Stay informed on the latest happenings in World News.