Another BJP-MVA face-off on cards in Maharashtra Council polls

Bharatiya Janata Party-backed independent candidate Sadabhau Khot and Nationalist Congress Party's Shivajrao Gajre on Monday withdrew their nominations for the Maharashtra Legislative Council polls, leaving 11 contestants in the fray for 10 seats as the state was set to witness another bitter fight between the BJP and the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) after the last week's cliffhanger in the Rajya Sabha polls.

Eleven candidates are in the fray for 10 vacant seats of the Legislative Council for which polling will be held on June 20, an official said.

Monday was the last day to withdraw nominations.

A former minister in the Devendra Fadnavis government (2014-19), Khot had filed his nomination as an independent candidate with backing of the opposition BJP.

Each candidate has to garner 25.81 votes for securing a win in the polls where members of the 288-strong legislative assembly form the electoral college.

The BJP has fielded five candidates, while the Congress, a constituent of the ruling MVA, has given tickets to two nominees.

However, the BJP and the Congress do not have enough votes of their own to ensure a victory for their fifth and second candidate, respectively.

Unlike the Rajya Sabha polls, where MLAs were required to show their ballot paper to respective party's authorised representative after casting vote, the legislative council elections will be held through secret ballot, giving rise to apprehensions of crossing-voting and independents and smaller parties switching allegiance.

The BJP has re-nominated outgoing MLCs Prasad Lad and Pravin Darekar, and also given tickets to Ram Shinde, Uma Khapre and Shrikant Bharatiya.

Senior state BJP leader Pankaja Munde did not make it to the list, a move which has upset her supporters.

The Congress has fielded Mumbai Congress chief Bhai Jagtap and former minister Chandrakant Handore.

The NCP has fielded Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar, the current Chairman of the Legislative Council, and former minister Eknath Khadse.

The Shiv Sena has nominated Sachin Ahir and Amshya Padvi, a party functionary from the tribal-dominated Nandurbar district.

Voting to the Upper House of the state legislature comes days after the Rajya Sabha elections where the BJP ensured a stunning victory for its third candidate Dhananjay Mahadik, upsetting the game plan of the Shiv Sena, whose candidate Sanjay Pawar lost in the June 10 polls.

Elections have been necessitated as 10 members of the Council are retiring. They are Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar, state Industries Minister Subhash Desai, Diwakar Raote, BJP's Darekar, Prasad Lad, Maratha leader Vinayak Mete and former minister Sadabhau Khot (both allies of the BJP), Surjitsinh Thakur, Ravindra Phatak and Sanjay Daund.

BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, widely credited for Mahadik's stunning win in the Rajya Sabha polls, expressed confidence about all his party candidates entering the Legislative Council.

"We were hoping that the council polls will held unopposed, but there was no success on this front. The Congress declined to withdraw its candidate. We are confident that all our five candidates will win," Fadnavis told reporters.