Two candidates each of the ruling coalition allies NCP and the Shiv Sena and four nominees of the opposition BJP on Monday nigh won elections to the Maharashtra Legislative Council (MLC), said an official.
All the eight candidates secured the minimum quota of 26 votes each. And made it to the Upper House of the state legislature, said the official. Chairman of Legislative Council and NCP candidate Ramraje Nimbalkar, Leader of Opposition in the Upper House Pravin Darekar of the BJP and former BJP minister and now NCP nominee Eknath Khadse easily bagged sufficient number of first preference votes to post wins.
The final vote tally will be announced when all the rounds of counting is over, the official said. Both the candidates of the Shiv Sena — Sachin Ahir and Aamshya Padavi – also won the election. While the two nominees of the Congress, which is part of the ruling coalition MVA, failed to secure the minimum quota of the first preference vote.
“If you count all the votes of first preference to the BJP candidates, we have won 133 votes. It means, we have won more votes than we secured in the Rajya Sabha elections,” he said.
The BJP has 106 MLAs in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, while remaining votes for its candidates have either come from independent MLAs, or those from small parties or from other parties.
Voting for the elections to 10 vacant MLC seats was held between 9 am and 4 pm. It was held at the Legislature Complex in south Mumbai. In all, 11 candidates – five of the BJP and two each of the Sena, the NCP and the Congress were in the fray. The counting of votes began after a two-hour delay at around 7 pm.