Stage set for polls of six Rajya Sabha seats in Maharashtra

Mumbai: The three ruling coalition parties, Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress, as well as the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) held separate meetings with their respective legislators and supporters from smaller parties, discussing details of how to cast their ballot in the Rajya Sabha election slated to be held today. Six seats of the Upper House from Maharashtra will go to poll, and with seven candidates in the fray the election will see a contest after over two decades.

The Sena held sessions with its legislators lodged at a five-star hotel in Nariman Point, with environment minister Aaditya Thackeray in attendance, about the preferential voting system. The NCP briefed their legislators at a meeting at a banquet in Worli and Congress held a mock drill about the polls for the MLAs at a Powai hotel on Thursday evening.

“It is a technical process. Some of the MLAs have never participated in the Rajya Sabha election process. [They would need to be told facts] like the pen cannot be changed while marking the candidates in order of preference. We want to avoid confusion and errors,” a Sena functionary, who did not wish to be named, said.

“We were concerned about the voting as the elections are going to be held after 24 years. All the MLAs participated in the mock drill. We are now confident to win the polls,” said Zeeshan Siddique, Congress MLA. Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar asked the MLAs asked to wake up early and gather at the Vidhan Bhavan in the morning.

The BJP, whose legislators are staying at the Taj President in Cuffe Parade, were also trained on the process. Union minister for railways Ashwini Vaishnav reached Mumbai earlier in the day. Vaishnav, who has been deputed as the observer for the election, addressed party legislators. BJP state chief Chandrakant Patil and leader of opposition Devendra Fadnavis — who recently recovered from Covid-19 — were also present. Fadnavis told party legislators to vote exactly how they were instructed and asked them to ensure that no votes were invalid.

“The Central leadership of the party has taken the Rajya Sabha polls very seriously. Union railway minister Ashwini Vaishnav has arrived and will stay [in Mumbai] till counting ends on Friday. We are confident that we will win the three seats based on the numbers we have,” said Patil.

The Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has named Sanjay Raut and Sanjay Pawar of Shiv Sena, Praful Patel of NCP and Imran Pratapgarhi of Congress as their candidates, while the BJP has named Union minister Piyush Goyal, Anil Bonde and Dhananjay Mahadik as its candidate list.

The MVA requires 164 votes to elect members to four seats, however, their effective strength now stands at 150 after the special court disallowed NCP legislators Anil Deshmukh and Nawab Malik — who are currently in jail over separate charges pertaining to corruption — from casting their votes in this election. The two moved the Bombay high court on Thursday evening, and a single-judge bench of Justice PD Naik has agreed to hear Malik’s plea. If the high court allows Deshmukh and Malik to cast their votes, the MVA will require four more votes to get their four candidates elected. At present, they have the numbers needed to get their candidates elected.

“We have made the preparations considering that Anil Deshmukh and Nawab Malik won’t be able to come for polling. The court’s decision won’t have much effect on the plans of the MVA,” Chhagan Bhujbal, senior NCP leader and minister, said.

On the other hand, BJP has 106 votes and the opposition party has claimed the support of three MLAs from smaller parties and five independents, taking its tally to 114. They would require 9 more votes to get a third candidate elected.

Meanwhile, hectic discussions continued as all major parties are trying to shore up their numbers.

The MVA was trying to secure the two votes from Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM). After meeting MVA leaders on Thursday evening, AIMIM MP Imtiaz Jaleel said party chief Asaduddin Owaisi would declare the party’s stand on Friday morning.

A group of independent legislators led by Kishor Jorgewar (Chandrapur), Ashish Jaiswal (Ramtek), and Chandrakant N Patil (Muktainagar) met chief minister Uddhav Thackeray for last minute negotiations at his official residence, Varsha, at Malabar Hill on Thursday afternoon.

The battle for the sixth seat is likely to be between the former allies Shiv Sena and BJP.

While the Sena is confident of getting three votes from the Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA), the BJP too is in talks with party chief Hitendra Thakur.