MUMBAI: Even as the three constituents of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) are locked in a tussle over the lone Rajya Sabha seat up for grabs, the coalition also faces the prospect of losing 17 of the 18 seats in the state legislative council, for which elections will be held in the next two months.
Nine seats, to be filled via election by MLAs, will go to the polls next month, while four others will be filled via polling in local bodies. The ruling Mahayuti alliance will likely nominate its leaders for five seats nominated from the governor’s quota.
Nine legislative council seats will fall vacant in May and July this year. Although five are held by the Mahayuti and four by the opposition MVA, the opposition will win just one, given their collective strength in the legislative assembly as these seats will be filled via election by members of the lower house.
Similarly, one seat each will be filled via election in the local bodies Solapur, Pune, Sangali-Satara and Raigad-Sindhudurg-Ratnagiri, as these local bodies came into existence after the recent elections. Given their performance in the recent polls, the ruling Mahayuti has a fair chance of winning all four seats.
These candidates will be elected by the members of municipal corporations, district councils, municipal councils, nagar parshiads and nagar pachayats. The Mahayuti alliance bagged over 60% of seats in urban and rural local bodies in elections held from December 2025 to February 2026.
“The outgoing nine MLCs include stalwarts from the opposition like Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and NCP (SP) chief Shashikant Shinde. However, the opposition will bag only one seat, and the Sena (UBT) is keen on getting it for Thackeray. The Sena (UBT) would need to return the favour during the Rajya Sabha election on March 16,” said a Congress leader.
Among the Mahayuti leaders retiring from the upper house are deputy chairperson Neelam Gorhe (Shiv Sena); Dadarao Keche, Sanjay Kenekar and Sanjay Joshi (BJP); and Amol Mitkari (NCP). They could be re-nominated by their parties on the basis of their strength in the legislative assembly. The Election Commission of India is expected to announce the polls for these seats in the next few weeks.
Opposition concerned
The opposition is also worried about its dwindling strength in the upper house after these elections. Its strength is expected to drop to 12 from 15 (at present, Congress and Sena-UBT have six each and NCP-SP 3). Their loss will be the Mahayuti’s gain, whose strength is expected to increase by 12 from 37.
BJP leaders say the ruling alliance may not push to fill the five seats nominated from the governor’s quota at this juncture. “The Mahayuti would prefer to keep these seats vacant, to avoid unrest among party workers who are aspirants for the nominations,” a party leader said. Seven of the 12 governor-nominated seats were filled in October 2024 just ahead of the assembly elections. All seven seats were filled by BJP leaders.
MVA divided over RS seat
On negotiations within the MVA for the Rajya Sabha nomination, Maharashtra Congress general secretary Sachin Sawant said, “Discussions for the Rajya Sabha seat are underway. Going by past experience, the Congress has always made sacrifices on these seats. Unfortunately, our numbers as the MVA are so weak that we will have to amicably take a call to avert any further damage.”
While the official line is that talks are on, the coalition partners are busy butting heads. The Shiv Sena (UBT) has already staked its claim to the seat. Party leader Aaditya Thackeray said this is based on the party’s numerical strength and the rotation policy within the alliance.
In a post on X on Monday, Thackeray said the party’s demand also aligns with its stand taken as the INDIA alliance. “There is no deadlock in talks for the Rajya Sabha, all parties are in communication with each other. We have put forward our claim on the upcoming Rajya Sabha seat, as numerically and in terms of the rotation policy fixed for the MVA, the seat should be contested by the @ShivSenaUBT. This also aligns with all the political stands that we have taken as the INDIA alliance,” he wrote.
While the NCP (SP) is hoping to get party chief Sharad Pawar re-elected to the Rajya Sabha, the Congress is refusing to play ball. The latter is demanding that the NCP (SP) clarify its stand on its proposed merger with the NCP led by deputy chief minister Sunetra Pawar.
The ruling BJP-led Mahayuti alliance has its house in order and is set to announce its nominee for the Rajya Sabha seat soon.