The Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray on Tuesday fielded Milind Narvekar, a close aide of party chief Uddhav Thackeray, in the biennial elections to 11 seats from the legislative council, taking the number of candidates in the fray to 12.
All candidates -- nine of the ruling Mahayuti and three of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) filed their nomination papers on Tuesday.
The legislative assembly is the electoral college for the elections. The current strength of the assembly is 274 due to 14 vacancies. The quota for the winning candidates is 23.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has nominated former minister Pankaja Munde, Amit Gorkhe, Sadabhau Khot, Yogesh tilekar and renominated Parinay Phuke.
While Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena has fielded former MPs Krupal Tumane and Bhawana Gawli, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party has fielded Rajesh Vitekar and Shivajirao Garje.
The Congress has renominated Pradyna Satav and the Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar is supporting sitting MLC and Peasants and Workers' Party (PWP) leader Jayant Patil.
The last date of withdrawal of nominations is July 5 and the election will take place on July 12.
The BJP has 103 members in the state assembly, followed by the Ajit Pawar-led NCP's 40, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena's 38.
The Congress has 37 MLAs, Shiv Sena-UBT 15 and Sharad Pawar-led NCP 10.
The biennial elections are necessitated because 11 MLCs are retiring.
These legislators are Manisha Kayande (Shiv Sena), Anil Parab (Shiv Sena-UBT),Vijay Girkar, Nilay Naik, Ramesh Patil, Ramrao Patil (BJP), Abdullah Durrani (NCP), Wajahat Mirza and Pragya Satav (Congress), Mahadev Jankar (Revolutionary Socialist Party) and Jayant Patil (PWP).
Meanwhile, Shiv Sena-UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray said the opposition MVA would not have fielded a third candidate in the upcoming polls to the Maharashtra legislative council had it not been confident of victory.
Talking to reporters in Mumbai, Thackeray asserted that all three candidates of the MVA will emerge victorious.
With the opposition's current strength in the 288-member legislative assembly, the electoral college for the polls, only two of its candidates can win the council polls.
The current strength of the state assembly is 274, while 14 seats are vacant.
The quota for the winning candidate is 23.
"All our three candidates are going to win," Thackeray said.
Asked if the opposition bloc does not have numbers for the victory of its third candidate, the former state chief minister said, "We would not be doing it had we not been confident."
