Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, July 12: After dismal performance in the just-concluded Lok Sabha elections, the ruling Mahayuti alliance of the BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP in Maharashtra bounced back on Friday winning all the nine seats the three parties contested in the elections to the state legislative council suggesting cross voting from the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) ranks.
In the 288-member legislative council, currently the effective strength of 274 members, each of the candidates required a minimum 23 first preference votes requiring minimum 207 votes for its nine candidates while the three parties together had a strength of 183 votes, including 103 of the BJP, followed by the Shiv Sena led by chief minister Eknath Shinde 38 and the deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar’s NCP 42.
The Congress (37), Shiv Sena (UBT) 15 and NCP (SP) 10 could win only two seats, one by the Congress and the other by the Sena (UBT). The NCP (Sharad Pawar) did not put up any candidate and had extended support to the PWP candidate Jayant Patil but he was the only of the 12 candidates in the fray to be defeated in the elections.
In the results announced in the evening for the polls conducted earlier in the day, the BJP won five seats, Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Pawar-led NCP bagged two seats each. The election was necessitated as 11 members of the legislative council (MLCs) are completing their six-year term on July 27.
The MLC election is being seen as a ‘semi-final’ for the Maharashtra Assembly election later this year. BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was quick to celebrate, posting a brief message on X, “9/9,” he said, adding a thumbs-up emoji for effect.
Speaking to reporters after the results, Ajit Pawar said, “Five MLAs supported us, I thank them. When there are elections, allegations are made but I do not think about it…” “Mahayuti should get such success in the Vidhan Sabha as well…” he declared.
The results were not, perhaps, unexpected, given MLCs are elected indirectly; i.e., by Assembly lawmakers and if a party has the MLAs (in this case, 23) it will claim one legislative council seat.
The BJP, which fielded five candidates, has 103 MLAs. This guaranteed four seats and left it 12 short for its fifth. The Shinde Sena has 37, meaning it was nine short. And Ajit Pawar’s NCP had 39 and was seven short. The Mahayuti, therefore, was short by 28 votes to win the nine seats it contested.
Across the aisle, the Congress has 37 MLAs but named only one candidate, giving it 14 surplus votes meant to be distributed amongst its MVA partners. The NCP faction led by Sharad Pawar was supporting Jayant Patil of the Peasants and Workers Party, but its 13 MLAs left it 10 short.
Mr Thackeray’s Sena put up one candidate too, despite being eight votes short. Overall the MVA was four votes short of winning all three, if the Congress’ extra votes were to be cast in favour of its allies.
The key was always going to be the votes cast by those outside – two MLAs each from Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party and Asaduddin Owaisi’s AIMIM, a lone CPIM leader, and an independent. Even then, that is only six additional votes. This would not have been enough for either the Mahayuti or MVA to win each of the seats it was contesting, which suggests there may have been cross-voting.
Ahead of voting by the legislators, there had been fear of horse-trading and poaching, prompting a round of resort politics that has become a standard feature of the Indian electoral landscape.
