In Maharashtra, political temperatures rose on Friday morning as voting began for four seats for the crucial Rajya Sabha polls. Maharashtra is one of the four states apart from Haryana, Karnataka and Rajasthan where polling is being held for 16 Rajya Sabha seats.
Piyush Goyal, Anil Bonde, Dhananjay Mahadik of the BJP, Praful Patel of the NCP), Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut and Sanjay Pawar (Shiv Sena) and Congress's Imran Pratapgarhi Congress are contesting the high-stakes Maharashtra polls.
As the voting began, while the Shiv Sena slammed the BJP, Raj Thackeray's party targeted the Sena over the party's stance on Hindutva. The attacks came as Asaduddin Owaisi's party backed the ruling alliance for the Rajya Sabha polls.
"An atmosphere that the election would be a close contest is being created, however the four candidates of the MVA will win the election after the first round of elections .The Uddhav Thackeray government has the support of 169 legislators. In today's election, BJP should not be shocked if we get more [than 169]," Raut told reporters outside the state assembly.
Four candidates of the ruling Sena-Congress-NCP alliance are contesting the Maharashtra Rajya Sabha polls. "All our four candidates are going to win the polls comfortably in the first round itself," asserted Balasaheb Thorat, Congress leader and the state's revenue minister.
{{/usCountry}}Four candidates of the ruling Sena-Congress-NCP alliance are contesting the Maharashtra Rajya Sabha polls. "All our four candidates are going to win the polls comfortably in the first round itself," asserted Balasaheb Thorat, Congress leader and the state's revenue minister.
{{/usCountry}}For Maharashtra, the polls are happening after nearly two decades. On Friday morning, Owaisi's party had announced that they would back the ruling coalition in the polls for the upper house but highlighted “certain conditions”.
"We laid certain conditions related to development of our MLAs constituencies in Dhulia and Malegaon. Also demanded Govt to appoint a minority member in MPSC and to take steps to increase the income of Maharashtra Wakf Board. Also demanded reservations for Muslims," the AIMIM's Imtiaz Jaleel tweeted, announcing support.
"Our 2 AIMIM Maharashtra MLAs have been asked to vote for @INCIndia candidate @ShayarImran for Rajya Sabha seat. We extend our best wishes to him! @asadowaisi (sic)," he said in a another post.
Meanwhile, Raj Thackeray's party slammed the Sena government. “They don’t hesitate to take the support of AIMIM who are direct descendants of the Nizam. The Shiv Sena’s Hindutva stands exposed,” said Gajanan Kale, MNS spokesperson.
The strength of the 288-member state assembly is down to 285 with NCP leaders Nawab Malik and Anil Deshmukh jailed in corruption case. Another seat was left vacant after Shiv Sena MLA Ramesh Latke's death.