Representative image of voting.
Credit: iStock Images
Mumbai: In the backdrop of the ongoing 2024 Lok Sabha polls and in the run up to the subsequent Vidhan Sabha polls, the ball has been set rolling for the crucial elections to four seats of Maharashtra Legislative Council.
Four members of the Council are retiring on June 7.
The four seats are very crucial for both, the BJP-led Maha Yuti (NDA) and Congress-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (I.N.D.I.A).
The four constituencies are Mumbai Graduates’ (Vilas Potnis - Shiv Sena (UBT)), Konkan Division Graduates’ (Niranjan Davkhare - BJP), Nashik Division Teachers’ (Kishore Darade - Independent) and Mumbai Teachers’ (Kapil Patil - Lok Bharti).
According to the schedule announced by the Election Commission of India, June 7 will be the last date for filing nominations, while scrutiny will take place on June 10, and the last date for withdrawal is June 12.
If needed, the polls would be held on June 26. The counting will be held on July 1.
The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) has nominated Anil Parab and J M Abhyankar from Mumbai Graduates’ and Mumbai Teachers’ seat, respectively.
Parab, an MLC and former minister is a close aide of Thackeray while Abhyankar is an Mumbai division chief of Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Shikshak Sena and former Chairman of Maharashtra State Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Commission and former Vice Chairman of Maharashtra State Minorities Commission.
The Raj Thackeray-led MNS has fielded Abhijit Panse from the Konkan Division Graduates’.
Of the 78 seats of the Maharashtra Legislative Council, 21 are vacant.
These include the 12 vacancies of Governor-appointed quota.