MNS chief Raj Thackeray has not appealed to his voters to continue its support to the Mahayuti coalition for the election of the four MLC seats held. File
Unlike the Lok Sabha election, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray has not appealed to his voters to continue its support to the Mahayuti coalition for the election of the four Member of Legislative Council (MLC) seats held on Wednesday in Maharashtra.
Voting for the biennial elections to Mumbai Graduates, Konkan Graduates, Mumbai Teachers and Nashik Teachers constituencies for the upper house of State legislature having 4.29 lakh registered voters saw more than half the voters turning out to cast their vote. Nashik Teachers seat witnessed the highest turnout among all the four seats at just over 93%.
MNS had fielded filmmaker Abhijit Panse from the Konkan Graduates constituency, but withdrew later to let a direct contest between BJP’s sitting MLC Niranjan Davkhare and Congress nominee Ramesh Keer. This seat witnessed a voter turnout of 63% from the 2.23 lakh eligible voters.
“There is no specific order from our party chief Raj Thackeray to vote for any particular candidate or political party. The eligible electorate can cast their vote as per their own choice,” MNS General Secretary Sandeep Deshpande said while the polling was underway.
“I am confident that our Shiv Sena (UBT)’s candidates on Konkan and Mumbai seats will win and this monsoon session of the State legislature will be Mahayuti’s government’s farewell session,” Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray remarked.
In the Mumbai Graduates constituency, Shiv Sena (UBT)’s sitting MLC Anil Parab is contesting against BJP’s Kiran Shelar to secure highest votes from the 1.20 lakh registered voters. There are six more candidates in the fray from this seat. 56% voting was recorded on Wednesday to elect one of the eight contestants.
Of the 13 candidates in the fray in the Mumbai Teachers seat, there was a four cornered contest. Shiv Sena (UBT) has fielded J.M. Abhayankar and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party has put forward Shivaji Nalawade. Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena is supporting independent nominee Shivaji Shendge, while the BJP is supporting independent candidate Shivnath Darade. With just over 15,000 voters, 75% of voters turned up to vote.
Lastly, Nashik Teachers constituency had the highest number of candidates at 21. Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Sandeep Gulve is against rival Shiv Sena’s sitting MLC Kishore Darade. BJP politician Vivek Kolhe is also in the fray as an independent candidate. Of the over 69,000 voters, 93.48% teachers exercised their right.
Results on these four seats will be announced on July 1. Another 11 seats of the State’s upper house are scheduled to go to polls on July 27 as the six year term is due to expire on the election date. There are a total of 78 seats in the Legislative Council.
Post Lok Sabha election results in Maharashtra, these two MLC elections will set the tone for the upcoming State Assembly election due to be held later this year. The lower house’s term ends in October.
