Uddhav Elected to Legislative Council Unopposed, Secures CM’s Seat

Fifty-nine-year-old Thackeray, who is also the president of Shiv Sena, makes his debut as a legislator.

Uddhav Thackeray

(Photo: PTI)

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and eight others were elected unopposed to state Legislative Council on Thursday, 14 May, PTI reported, quoting an official.

Apart from Thackeray, Council Deputy Chairperson Neelam Gorhe (Shiv Sena), four candidates of BJP – Ranjitsinh Mohite Patil, Gopichand Padalkar, Praveen Datke, and Ramesh Karad; NCP's Shashikant Shinde and Amol Mitkari and Congress's Rajesh Rathod were in the fray for the nine seats, which fell vacant on 24 April.

“The result was officially announced on Thursday after the deadline for withdrawal of nominations ended at 3 pm,” the official said.

With this election, 59-year-old Thackeray, who is also the president of Shiv Sena, makes his debut as a legislator.

The Congress on Sunday, 10 May, announced that it would withdraw one of its two candidates for the 21 May elections to nine seats, paving way for Thackeray to win unopposed.

The Maharashtra Congress withdrew the nomination of Raj Kishor Modi for polls to the State Legislative Council.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) on 1 May had granted permission for holding elections to the Legislative Council (MLCs) in Maharashtra on 21 May, to pave way for CM Uddhav Thackeray to become a member of the Legislative Council.

Since Thackeray was not a member of either House of the State Legislature, he needed to get elected to the the Council before 27 May.

According to Hindustan Times, Senior Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut had said that Uddhav Thackeray was not willing to fight the legislative council polls unless elected unopposed.

(With inputs from PTI)