Close fight between Sena and BJP for 6th RS seat

June 10, 2022 10:37

BJP candidate Piyush Goyal at Maha assembly

Voting is underway for six Rajya Sabha seats in Maharashtra at the Vidhan Bhavan, the state legislature complex in Mumbai on Friday, with a close contest being played out between the state's ruling Shiv Sena and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party for the sixth seat.

The polling process, which began at 9 am, will go on till 4 pm and the results will be declared in the evening.

There are a total of seven candidates in the fray for six seats. While the BJP has fielded Union minister Piyush Goyal, former state minister Anil Bonde and former MP Dhananjay Mahadik, the Shiv Sena has given opportunity to MP Sanjay Raut and Sanjay Pawar. From the NCP, Praful Patel is in the election ring, while the Congress has fielded Imran Pratapgarhi.

The contest is primarily for the sixth seat -- between BJP's Mahadik and Sena's Pawar.

This is after more than two decades that Maharashtra is witnessing a contest in the Rajya Sabha polls.

The 288-member Legislative Assembly is the electoral college for the biennial 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 day's bail to vote in the elections.

After the special court's decision, Malik and Deshmukh, who are currently in jail in separate money laundering cases, on Thursday evening approached the Bombay High Court for relief. The high court is scheduled to hear their pleas in the morning.

Shiv Sena has 55 MLAs, NCP 53, Congress 44 , BJP 106, Bahujan Vikas Aghadi three, Samajwadi party, AIMIM and Prahar Janshakti party two each, MNS, CPI(M), PWP, Swabhimani Party, Rashtriya Samaj Paksh, Jansurajya Shakti party, Krantikari Shetkari Party one each, and there are 13 independent legislators.

The quota for the first preference votes has come down to 41. Congress and NCP have decided to transfer their second preference votes to Shiv Sena's Sanjay Pawar.

For the last couple of days, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies (Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress) and the opposition BJP had kept their respective legislators in different hotels in Mumbai, where the party leaders explained to them the process of preferential system of voting. -- PTI

« Back to LIVE

TOP STORIES

Pujara's ton puts Sussex on top vs Derbyshire

India batter Cheteshwar Pujara's unbeaten 104 helped Sussex extend their first innings lead to 111 runs in their County Championship Division Two match against Derbyshire on Saturday.

19-year-old lynched over 'sacrilege' charge in Punjab's Ferozepur

Bakshish Singh, a resident of Talli Gulam village, allegedly tore some pages of the Guru Granth Sahib, the holy book of the Sikhs, after entering the premises of the gurdwara in Bandala village, they said.

SRH looking to exploit batter-friendly Wankhede vs MI

The Pat Cummins-led side is in the midst of an intense battle between multiple teams who are bidding for spots in the final four, with Rajasthan Royals (16 points), Kolkata Knight Riders (14 points) and Lucknow Super Giants (12 points)...

AFSPA may become obsolete in J-K's future: Rajnath Singh

The defence minister, however, said the matter is under the domain of the Union home ministry and it will take appropriate decisions.

India men's 4x400m team fails to finish in World Relays heats

"The men's 4x400m relay team had a good start. Muhammad Anas clocked 45.93 seconds in the first leg, but the second runner -- Rajesh Ramesh -- fell down due to cramps in leg muscles at the first bend," read a statement from the Athletics...