Maharashtra cabinet authorises CM Uddhav Thackeray to recommend 12 names for nomination on Council by Governor

The Maharashtra Cabinet on Thursday cleared a proposal authorising chief minister (CM) Uddhav Thackeray to send 12 names to Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari for the

The Maharashtra Cabinet on Thursday cleared a proposal authorising chief minister (CM) Uddhav Thackeray to send 12 names to Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari for the legislative council. The CM is likely to send the recommendations to the Governor by Monday.

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The term of 12 legislators nominated to the Upper house from the governor’s quota had expired in June. The positions have been vacant since then as the state had not made any recommendations to the Governor. The Governor nominates 12 people as members of the legislative council (MLCs) for a tenure of six years. The appointments are made by the Governor on the state Cabinet’s recommendation.

“The proposal of appointing 12 MLCs by the Governor was discussed in the state Cabinet today. We have decided to authorise the CM to send respective names to Raj Bhavan. The official recommendation will be made soon,” state textiles minister Aslam Shaikh told reporters after the cabinet meeting on Thursday. Each of the three ruling parties — Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress — will nominate four people and send their names to the CM.

State Congress chief Balasaheb Thorat has submitted the nominees’ names to the CM in a sealed envelope, said party insiders. A senior Congress leader, requesting anonymity, said those appointed are from districts like Konkan, Nashik and Beed, where no Congress legislators were elected in the last assembly elections.

NCP submitted the names of its four candidates to the CM on Thursday evening. Shiv Sena is yet to finalise the names for the vacant MLC seats.

As per Article 171 (5) of the Constitution, those nominated to the Upper house “shall consist of persons having special knowledge or practical experience in respect of such matters as the following, namely — literature, science, art, co-operative movement and social service.” However, over the years, political nominees have been appointed to these seats, which led to apprehensions that the appointment may lead to another tussle between the Governor and Thackeray-led Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government.

Possible nominees:

The candidates likely from NCP are Eknath Khadse, Raju Shetti, Anand Shinde, Yashpal Bhinge. From Shiv Sena, Sunil Shinde, Sachin Ahir, Aadesh Bandekar, Milind Narvekar and Urmila Matondkar are the contenders for the position while from Congress, their names are Sachin Sawant, Muzaffar Hussain, Rajni Patil, Anirudha Wankar, Satyajeet Tambe and Arif Naseem Khan.