Maha RS polls: On eve of polling, parties hold meetings to fine-tune strategy

Political parties in Maharashtra are engaged in hectic parleys to finalise their strategy for Fridays elections to six seats of Rajya Sabha from the state being viewed as a platform for the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA allies and opposition BJP to test their strengthAfter more than two decades Maharashtra will witness a contest in the Rajya Sabha polls as there are seven candidates in the fray for six seats The polling process will start at 9 am and end at 4 pmThe MVA allies Shiv Sena NCP Congress have shifted their MLAs to different hotels and resorts in Mumbai and they will be kept there till the polling process commencesNCP chief Sharad Pawar Congress general secretary Mallikarjun Kharge BJP leader and Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw have been holding meetings with leaders of their respective parties here on Thursday and finalising the strategy for the pollsAlso Read Mumbai court refuses oneday bail to Nawab Malik Anil Deshmukh to vote in Rajya Sabha pollsThe 288member Legislative Assembly is the electoral college for the elections But the total votes have come down to 285 since there is a vacancy due to the death of Shiv Sena MLA Ramesh Latke and a special court on Thursday rejecting the pleas filed by minister Nawab Malik and former minister Anil Deshmukh seeking a days bail to vote in the electionsState NCP president Jayant Patil said the party was upset with the courts decisionNone of them Malik and Deshmukh are convicted So by rejecting their bail plea they have been deprived of their constitutional right to vote he saidSenior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis who was found infected with Covid19 a few days back tested negative on Thursday So he can now participate in the voting process along with other members of the Assembly He was found infected on Sunday and was under home isolation since thenUnion minister Piyush Goyal Anil Bonde Dhananjay Mahadik BJP Praful Patel NCP Sanjay Raut and Sanjay Pawar Shiv Sena and Imran Pratapgarhi Congress are in fray for the six seats The contest is for the sixth seat between BJPs Mahadik and Senas PawarShiv Sena has 55 MLAs NCP 53 Congress 44 BJP 106 Bahujan Vikas Aghadi BVA three Samajwadi party AIMIM and Prahar Janshakti party two each MNS CPIM PWP Swabhimani Party Rashtriya Samaj Paksh Jansurajya Shakti party Krantikari Shetkari Party one each and there are 13 independent legislatorsThe quota for first preference votes to get an candidate elected has come down to 41 Congress and NCP have decided to transfer their second preference votes to Shiv Senas Sanjay PawarIn the fight for the sixth seat both MVA parties and BJP are banking on the 25 additional votes of smaller parties and independents There are three ministers in the cabinet from smaller parties and independentsThe elections are being held through open ballot and state congress president Nana Patole will be the authorized agent for the Congressm where the party legislators will have to show their vote to him before dropping it into the boxShiv Sena secretary and close aide of chief minister Uddhav Thackeray Milind Narvekar and Rajya Sabha member Anil Desai are likely to be the authorised agents for the Shiv Sena legislators while NCPs Lok Sabha member Sunil Tatkare and partys state unit president Jayant Patil will be the authorised agents for the MLAs of their partyBJP leaders Ashish Shelar and Chandrashekar Bawankule are likely to be the authorised agents for the party legislatorsWhen asked about the illness of two BJP MLAs party chief whip Ashish Shelar said We have taken special permission from the Election Commission of India ECI three days back to allow them to travel to Mumbai in a special ambulance The MLAs are permitted to be accompanied by a person of their choice to cast their voteThe ECI has a provision called tendered vote where a legislator with some medical condition can vote with an assistant It is not necessary for the legislator to appoint an MLA as his or her assistant Shelar saidThis is for the first time since 1998 that Rajya Sabha elections in Maharashtra will see a contest In the last 24 years the vacant Rajya Sabha seats in the state were filled unopposed In 1998 the election was held as per the secret ballot system while this time the voters MLAs will have to show their vote to the party whip before dropping it into the ballot boxThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever