Council chairperson election unlikely this winter session

When contacted, deputy chairperson Neelam Gorhe, who is from Shiv Sena (UBT), told The Indian Express: “I cannot comment on whether the election will be held or not. It is me who will conduct the election if announced, so it is not wise for me to comment (on the matter).”

A BJP leader from the state council, on the condition of anonymity, said, “Unlike assembly, none of the 11 MLCs of the Sena have officially defected to the Shinde faction following his rebellion against the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi government. With 21 seats vacant, despite us (BJP) having 22 MLCs, it will be analysed how many more votes we can manage.”

As per the official website of the state legislature, even the party wise division of present MLCs does not mention two Senas with all 11 members being shown as belonging to one Shiv Sena only. Ambadas Danve is the Leader of Opposition in the state council.

Sources within the legislature said that with 57 members in council, majority mark will come down to 24 in case of election. Opposition Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has nine MLCs while the Congress has eight. At present, the MVA has majority on paper to win the chairperson post election, if announced.

Leader of the House and state’s deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis did not comment when asked whether the ruling side was planning to hold the election for the post.

Out of 21 vacant seats, 12 are of nominated members. The appointment of these MLCs was delayed for more than one-and-a-half years after governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari refused to accept the proposed names by the previous MVA government. After the MVA government was overthrown earlier this year, Shinde withdrew the nominations of those 12 names. The Supreme Court, however, in September 2022, directed the state government not to take any decision with respect to the appointment of 12 MLC names.