Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde voted for the Legislative Council elections in Vidhan Sabha on Friday.
Earlier today, Congress wrote a letter to election officials and demanded to restrict BJP MLA Ganpat Gaikwad accused in a firing incident not cast his vote in MLC elections.
“Gaikwad is in judicial custody and cannot vote under Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. So they should not be allowed to vote,” Congress demands.
Ganpat Gaikwad accused of shooting at Shiv Sena’s Eknath Shinde faction leader Mahesh Gaikwad has been in judicial custody since the incident.
Meanwhile, Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders Sanjay Raut and Aditya Thackeray arrived at the Maharashtra Assembly.
The voting for the Maharashtra Legislative Council Elections is underway at Vidhan Sabha for the 11 seats of the Council and will go on till 4 pm on Friday.
A total of 12 candidates are in the fray.
The elections come just months ahead of the Assembly elections slated to take place in the state later this year. Ahead of the Maharashtra Legislative Council elections, BJP’s MLC candidate Pankaja Munde visited and offered prayers at Siddhivinayak Temple in Mumbai.
The BJP has fielded five candidates, its allies Shiv Sena and the NCP two each. The BJP candidates are Pankaja Munde, Yogesh Tilekar, Parinay Phuke, Amit Gorkhe, and Sadabhau Khot.
Shiv Sena has fielded Krupal Tumane and Bhawana Gawli and NCP has fielded Rajesh Vitekar and Shivajirao Garje.
The elections are underway on 11 seats of the Maharashtra Legislative Council, as the six-year tenure of the MLCs will end on July 27.
The quota to elect one MLC is the votes of 23 MLAs.
The BJP leads with 103 MLAs, followed by Shiv Sena, (38), NCP (42), Congress (37), Shiv Sena (UBT) (15), and NCP (Sharad Pawar) (10). (ANI)