For sixth Rajya Sabha seat, 29 smaller parties’ MLAs and Independents hold the key

With the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fielding a third candidate, the elections to six Rajya Sabha seats from Maharashtra are likely to be a bitter tussle. Since neither the ruling Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) nor the opposition BJP has the required numbers to elect the sixth candidate on their own, the 29 MLAs, who are either Independents or from smaller parties, will decide the outcome.

The 288-member assembly will choose six members to the Upper House of parliament. Considering a candidate needs 42 votes to win, the MVA can get three and BJP can get two members elected without a hitch. For the one extra seat - either the MVA’s fourth or BJP’s third - the role of Independents and smaller parties will be significant.

The seven candidates who have filed their nomination papers are union minister Piyush Goyal, Anil Bonde and Dhananjay Mahadik, all from BJP, Sanjay Raut and Sanjay Pawar from Shiv Sena, Praful Patel from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and Imran Pratapgarhi from Congress.

After announcing two candidates - Goyal and Bonde - BJP put the third candidate, former MP Dhananjay Mahadik, in the fray. It has 106 MLAs and after ensuring 84 votes for Goyal and Bonde, it will be left with 22 surplus votes, besides the support of 7 Independents and smaller parties’ members. BJP leaders said they were falling short of 13 votes but they had managed those from Independents and smaller parties.

The assembly has a total of 13 Independent MLAs and 16 legislators belonging to smaller parties.

Sena has fielded its Kolhapur district president Pawar as its second candidate along with sitting MP Raut, with support from the two alliance partners – the NCP and Congress. Collectively, the ruling parties have 26 additional votes and apparently enjoy the support of around 19 members from smaller parties and Independents. MVA leaders claimed they had 45 surplus votes which would be enough to ensure Pawar’s win. With 55, 53, and 44 members respectively in the Assembly, Sena, the NCP, and Congress can comfortably elect one candidate each.

Now with seven candidates in the ring, the horse-trading seems inevitable.

“The voting is held in the open ballot system for the RS polls, leaving very little room for cross-voting by legislators of main parties. So, the focus is on Independent MLAs and those from smaller parties,” a former NCP minister, who did not wish to be named, said.

MVA leaders said it would not be easy for BJP to elect its third candidate though they were wooing the 29 Independents and smaller parties’ members.

“As many as 11 of smaller party members and 8 Independents back the MVA, taking its tally of additional votes to 45 against BJP’s 29. It is a huge gap, considering which BJP may withdraw its third candidate. However, defeat of the additional candidate would not be as insulting and embarrassing to BJP as it could be to the MVA. Cross-voting of even a single MLA from the ruling fold or even Independents supporting the MVA could expose the rift within the alliance,” a Sena leader said.

The smaller parties are Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (three MLAs), Samajwadi Party (two), All India Majlees-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (two), Prahar Janshakti Paksh (two) and one each from the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Peasants and Workers Party, Swabhimani Paksh, Rashtriya Samaj Paksh, Jansurajya Shakti, and Krantikari Shetkari Paksh.

Leader of opposition Devendra Fadnavis said BJP would not indulge in horse-trading. “We have adequate numbers to get our third candidate elected. Our candidates are from Maharashtra and true BJP leaders. We have fielded the third candidate with a well-planned strategy. We cannot disclose it to the media. If the MVA does not want the horse-trading, they are free to withdraw their candidate. We believe the smaller parties and Independents will vote as per their conscience.”

Sena MP Raut said BJP placing a third candidate did not pose a challenge to the MVA. “It is not a challenge at all because the MVA has the numbers to get all four candidates, including the second candidate of Sena, elected. But this is a democracy; they can contest the elections but they should bear in mind that nobody should indulge in horse-trading.”

“The Maharashtra home department and the chief minister are keeping a close watch on the developments,” he added.

Raut also taunted that BJP thinks it can get officers from the Enforcement Directorate and the Central Bureau of Investigation to vote.

Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole challenged the BJP that had claimed to have a magic figure to win the polls. “Not many days are left. They have been dreaming [of returning to power] ever since the MVA government was formed. People of the state know about their dream. Let them also come to know about their magic figure.”

Patel said, “All the four candidates of the MVA will win. Former home minister Anil Deshmukh and minority affairs minister Nawab Malik will cast their votes [from the prisons] after seeking permission from the court.”

While BJP’s Goyal, Bonde and Mahadik, the NCP’s Patel, and Congress’ Pratapgarhi filed their nominations at Vidhan Bhavan on Monday, Sena’s Raut and Pawar filed their papers on Friday.

The elections to six seats from Maharashtra will be held on June 10, while the last day of withdrawal of the nomination is June 3. May 31 is the last day of filing nominations.

By fielding Bonde, an OBC leader from Vidarbha, BJP is trying to woo the Kunbi community which largely supported Congress in the 2019 assembly elections. Besides, Bonde could be another alternative to Pankaja Munde who has been making her unhappiness with the state BJP leadership known.

Congress, through Pratapgarhi, is trying to send out a message to the minorities as well as its targeted voters in Uttar Pradesh where it was decimated in the assembly polls held earlier this year.

Patel is contesting the polls for a fifth term as he was first elected to the Upper House in 2000. He was again elected to RS in 2006 before winning the Lok Sabha elections in 2009 from Bhandara-Gondia constituency. In 2014, NCP leader Tariq Anwar, who was elected to the Lok Sabha, quit from the Rajya Sabha, and Patel was renominated from Anwar’s seat.