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Cong, NCP face-off likely in council polls
Of the eleven seats, 10 are elected by 288 members of the Assembly, with securing 27 votes mandatory for each seat
The election for the eleven seats to the legislative council, scheduled to be held in May-June this year, is likely to lead to a face-off between the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
Of the eleven seats, 10 are elected by 288 members of the Assembly, with securing 27 votes mandatory for each seat. Of the ten outgoing members of the legislative council (MLC), 3 each are from the Congress and NCP, while two each are from the BJP and Shiv Sena. After the reduction in their tally in Assembly in 2014, the erstwhile ruling parties will be able to win only one seat each. In the Assembly, the Congress’ strength is reduced to 42 from 82, and NCP’s to 41 from 63. Both the parties can win one more seat if they join hands, but this may prove to be the root of the problem.
For the NCP, both the seats are important, as the leader of opposition in the council Dhananjay Munde and council chairman Ramraje Naik-Nimbalkar hold them. “Our leadership is not ready to support the NCP in the backdrop of the council elections held in January, when NCP defector Prasad Lad contested against our candidate. Similarly, the NCP had joined hands with the BJP to oust our senior leader Shivajirao Deshmukh as chairman of the council,” said a Congress leader.
Similar is the case with the BJP and Sena, which have 15 votes extra (in addition to the required 27) and 5 extra votes, respectively.
The eleventh seat of deputy chairman Vasant Davkhare has to be elected from corporators in civic bodies in Thane and Palghar districts. As the Sena has scaled up its strength to elect its candidate single handedly, Davkhare might find it difficult to retain his seat. Sena may get Aadesh Bandekar, Ravindra Phatak or Anant Tare to contest for the seat.
Congress spokesperson Anant Gadgil said it is premature to speak, while BJP spokesperson Madhav Bhandari said the party will clarify its stand later.
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