Mumbai: In a significant development, Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Thursday wrote a letter to the Election Commission of India (ECI) requesting it to declare polls to the nine vacant seats of the state Legislative Council “at the earliest”.
Koshyari’s decision to request the poll panel to hold elections comes despite the state cabinet’s two recommendations to him to nominate Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to the Upper House of the state legislature through the governor’s quota.
He has to get elected to either House of the legislature by May 27.
A statement issued by the Raj Bhavan said a letter written by Uddhav Thackeray requesting the governor to write to the ECI regarding holding of the biennial elections was handed over to him on Thursday evening.
The biennial elections to the nine seats from the MLAs’ quota, which fell vacant on April 24, were postponed by the ECI in view of the pandemic.
Thackeray was sworn in as the chief minister on November 28 last year when he was not a member of the legislature.
As per the rule, he has to get elected as legislator within six months.
The tenure of the two vacant seats from the governor quota ends by mid-June.
Meanwhile, state Congress president Balasaheb Thorat, the legislature party leader of the Congress said that Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress have written separate letters to the ECI requesting it to hold elections to the nine vacant council seats to avoid uncertainty over continuance of Uddhav Thackeray as the chief minister. (PTI)
