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Updated: May 11, 2020 7:50:49 am
“Honoring the Prime Minister’s request, Congress agreed to withdraw its second candidate. Then the candidates would win without opposition,” said Sena deputy Sanjay Raut.
After Shiv Sena voiced his discontent at the ally of Congress who was running a second candidate in Legislative Council polls on May 21, Congress on Sunday decided to withdraw his candidate to make way for Maharashtra’s Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, and eight others to be elected without opposition.
“The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) wanted to contest six seats. But considering the Covid-19 crisis, it is difficult to bring all MLAs to Mumbai for the vote. The Prime Minister himself is a candidate in the polls. He has asked that the candidates win without opposition. So, all things considered, the MVA will now present five candidates, ”said Balasaheb Thorat, president of the state Congress and Minister of Revenue after a meeting with senior leaders of his party, Sena and NCP.
With this, while MVA has nominated candidates for five seats, BJP is contesting four seats. With no other candidate in dispute, the nine candidates will be elected without opposition.
The meeting was attended by Congressional Minister Ashok Chavan, PCN Ministers Ajit Pawar and Jayant Patil, as well as Shiv Sena, Eknath Shinde and Anil Parab. Sena deputy Sanjay Raut and party secretary Milind Narvekar were also present.
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“Honoring the Prime Minister’s request, Congress agreed to withdraw its second candidate. Then the candidates would win without opposition,” said Raut.
Earlier in the day, Raut had told the mediators that Uddhav would not like to contest the polls if he was not going to have opposition. “We want candidates to win the polls without opposition. Many people walk the streets and there are livelihood problems. It will be a stain on the Maharashtra tradition if we, all political parties, cannot get the candidates elected without opposition. Thackeray is uncomfortable about this. He wants to answer the polls only if he is not going to have opposition, ”he had said.
Read | Maharashtra MLC polls: Uddhav to submit documents in a few days, Neelam Gorhe, another Senate candidate
The Electoral Commission has announced the Legislative Council polls for nine seats in Maharashtra days after Uddhav approached Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his intervention to avoid a constitutional crisis in the state. Uddhav, who took office as CM on November 28, 2019, must become a member of either chamber of the state legislature by May 27.
Uddhav and Neelam Gorhe of Sena, Shashikant Shinde and Amol Mitkari of NCP and Rajesh Rathod of Congress will present their nominations on Monday. Ranjitsinh Mohite Patil from BJP, Gopichand Padalkar, Pravin Datke and Ajit Gopchade presented their nominations on Friday.
Read | Maharashtra Cabinet will again ask the governor to name Uddhav Thackeray as MLC
Sources said that according to the initial plan, Sena and NCP would have contested two seats and Congress one seat, considering the strength of each party in the Assembly. The BJP would have contested four seats. While the central leadership of Congress announced one candidate, the state unit announced another on Saturday, leading to differences of opinion among the three allies.
Sources said that while the state congressional leadership was of the opinion that MVA can win the sixth seat, Sena did not want to risk considering Uddhav is in the fray. “Congress, a smaller ally in MVA with fewer seats compared to Sena and NCP, wanted to demonstrate that it has not surrendered to the other two allies. So he announced a second candidate to underline his importance, ”said a source.
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