All four major political parties in Maharashtra have lodged their legislators in five-star hotels to prevent any bid of poaching by rivals, days ahead of the elections to the state’s legislative council on June 20, people familiar with the developments said on Saturday.
A total of 11 candidates are in the fray for the 10 seats up for grabs, with the Shiv Sena, Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) — allies in the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) — each fielding two candidates, while the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has nominated five members.
About 220 rooms at four different five-star hotels have been booked by the parties for two to three days, functionaries from the four parties said.
“BJP has kept its MLAs at Taj Vivanta (erstwhile President); NCP has chosen Trident at Nariman Point; Shiv Sena has hired rooms at WestIn located near Powai lake while the Congress is keeping its MLAs at Four Seasons hotel in Worli,” one of the functionaries cited above said, requesting anonymity.
Barring their ministers, the MVA parties have collectively booked 125 rooms (Congress 35, Sena 50 and NCP 40). The BJP has booked about 100 rooms in the Cuffe Parade hotel, the functionaries said.
“More rooms would be added to accommodate central observers of national parties such as Congress and BJP,” the functionary quoted above said.
Elections for 10 vacant seats in the legislative council are scheduled for June 20. The elections will be held through secret ballot method from an electoral college of MLAs, raising the possibility of horse-trading and cross-voting.
The BJP has fielded five candidates — Pravin Darekar, Shrikant Bharatiya, Ram Shinde, Uma Khapre and Prasad Lad — and backed former minister and ally Sadabhau Khot as an independent candidate. The MVA alliance partners have fielded two candidates each — Sachin Ahir and Aamsha Padvi from Sena, Eknath Khadse and Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar from the NCP, and Bhai (Ashok) Jagtap and Chandrakant Handore from Congress.
The Congress, which will need eight more votes to get its second candidate elected, is particularly vulnerable, said a party insider. The fate of the 10th seat is likely to be sealed by the 29 MLAs from smaller parties and Independents.
