Maharashtra Governor BS Koshyari has requested the Election Commission of India (ECI) to declare elections for the nine vacant seats of Maharashtra Legislative Council at the earliest. These seats have been lying vacant from April 24. The election process for all these seats was postponed by the poll panel as a nationwide lockdown is in place to control the outbreak of the coronavirus.
“The Central Government has announced many relaxation measures regarding the enforcement of lockdown in the country. As such the elections to the council seats can be held with certain guidelines,” the Governor told the poll panel in a letter.
Shiv Sena leaders Eknath Shinde, Milind Narvekar meets Governor.
The development comes just hours after Shiv Sena leaders Eknath Shinde and Milind Narvekar met the Governor.
This holds significance as uncertainty over the nomination of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray as a Member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council continues.
“Since the Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray is not a member of either house of the state Legislature, he needs to get elected to the Council before May 27,” the Governor said in the letter.
The Governor also said that several relaxation measures regarding the nationwide lockdown have been announced by the Centre and the elections for the nine MLC seats can be held with certain guidelines.
The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government – comprising of Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party, and Congress – have requested the Governor twice to nominate Thackeray in one of the two MLC seats from his quota. But with this development, the request seems to have been rejected by the Governor.
Thackeray – who was sworn in as Maharashtra CM on November 28, 2019 – is not a member of the state legislature. He has to become a member of either house of the legislature by May 28 if he wants to continue as Chief Minister.
