Luxurious confinement for the political figures ahead of Council polls

Political parties in Maharashtra hold dinner meetings and arrange luxury hotel stays for their MLAs to prevent cross-voting ahead of Friday’s biennial elections to 11 Legislative Council seats

These council polls will fill vacancies left by members retiring on July 27. The Shiv Sena (UBT) has nominated Milind Narvekar, a close aide to party president Uddhav Thackeray. With 12 candidates in the fray, the electoral college of 274 members will vote in the Vidhan Bhavan complex in Mumbai from 9 am to 4 pm, with counting starting at 5 pm. Parties are taking measures to ensure loyalty. The Congress has issued a whip to its MLAs to vote according to party directives and held a dinner meeting for its MLAs. Uddhav Thackeray hosted a dinner for Shiv Sena (UBT) MLAs, while Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar’s NCP moved its MLAs to a hotel near the airport. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena and the BJP, part of the ruling Mahayuti coalition, have also relocated their MLAs to hotels.

The NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) trusts its MLAs’ loyalty and hasn’t moved them to hotels. Eleven MLCs, including members from the undivided Shiv Sena, Congress, NCP, BJP, Rashtriya Samaj Paksha, and the Peasants and Workers Party, are completing their terms on July 27. Each winning candidate needs 23 first-preference votes from the 288-member assembly. The BJP, with 103 members, has fielded five candidates, while its ally Shiv Sena has two. The NCP has two candidates, the Congress one and the Shiv Sena (UBT) one. The NCP (SP) is supporting Jayant Patil of the PWP. Cross-voting concerns persist in both ruling and opposition blocs, with the MVA confident despite not having sufficient numbers to secure their third candidate. They are relying on some NCP and Shiv Sena MLAs to cross-vote in their favor.