In a breather for Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, the Election Commission of India on Friday granted permission for holding elections to the Legislative Council (MLCs) in Maharashtra on May 21.
The necessary guidelines will need to be ensured for safety against COVID-19 during the elections, the poll body said.
The clearance from the Election Commission came after Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Thursday urged the poll body to declare elections to the nine vacant seats in the state Legislative Council “at the earliest”.
These seats have been lying vacant since April 24 and filling up the same would end the current political uncertainty in the state
Since Uddhav Thackeray — who was sworn in as chief minister on November 28, 2019 — is not a member of either house of the state Legislature, he needs to get elected to the Council before May 27.
Meanwhile, earlier in the day, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray called on the Governor at the Raj Bhavan and exchanged Maharashtra Day greetings with the Governor. The meeting lasted for about 20 minutes.
In a meeting held via video conferencing with Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora, Koshyari said that the Centre has announced many relaxation measures regarding the lockdown enforcement in the country, and accordingly, the elections for the MLC seats can be held with certain guidelines.
The EC had postponed the election process for these nine seats in view of the Coronavirus crisis and the ongoing lockdown.
Political circles pointed out that with this development, the requests of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government to nominate Thackeray in one of the two MLC seats from his quota had virtually been rejected by the Governor.
Since the past nearly a month, leaders of the Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party and Congress have been repeatedly appealing to the Governor to name Thackeray for one of his quota seats to avert a constitutional crisis in the state.
On Monday, Thackeray spoke with Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and on Tuesday he called up Prime Minister Narendra Modi, reportedly on the same issue.
Uddhav Thackeray reportedly complained to the PM about “attempts to weaken his position” in the middle of the coronavirus crisis.
After passing two resolutions to the effect, almost the entire state cabinet led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar had called on the Governor this week and urged him to do the needful.
Besides, several Sena leaders and ministers have also met the Koshyari with a similar request, and the NCP-Congress have issued statements to the effect.
A Congress leader said that with the Governor now throwing the ball in the EC’s court, the political situation would be clear only after May 3, when the national lockdown is slated to end.
Not a member of either house of legislature, Thackeray was sworn-in as CM on November 28, 2019, and now must become a MLC, failing which there could be constitutional deadlock, according to official sources.
Meanwhile, elections also due for 18 vacant seats in Rajya Sabha, the upper house of parliament, will not be held for now.