9 MAHA SEATS TO GO TO POLLS ON MAY 21
THACKERAY HAS TIME TILL MAY 27 TO BECOME MEMBER OF EITHER HOUSE
MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: The Election Commission said on Friday that polls for Maharashtra’s legislative council seats will be held on May 21, clearing the way for a process crucial to chief minister Uddhav Thackeray’s position since he has to become a member of either houses of the legislature by May 27 to remain in power.
Polls for the council – the upper house that is elected by members of the legislative assembly – were initially set to be held in April but were pushed back due to the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak, which has triggered a near-complete ban on the movement of people. The government announced on Friday that some people will be allowed to move between 7am and 7pm from the next week.
This will be the first election for the CM, who heads the Shiv Sena. The decision for him to head the government was taken after elections results on October 24 threw up a split verdict, which led the Shiv Sena to ally with rivals Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress in a coalition that has been named the Mharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA).
According to India’s constitution, a minister needs to be elected to a legislature within six months of taking oath in the government. “In terms of the numbers, the MVA has them. The nine seats to the council are to be elected by 288 members of the assembly. The voting is done by preferential vote method and as per a formula adopted for these elections, roughly 29 votes are needed to elect one member. Based on the strength in assembly, BJP would get four seats, Sena and NCP would get two seats each, while the Congress party would get one,” a Sena functionary said, asking not to be named. He added that the paperwork for nomination has been initiated.
The notification for the election will be issued on May 4. According to the schedule, the last day to file nominations is May 11, polling will be held on May 21, and counting of votes would be done on the same day.