Uddhav Thackeray, 8 others elected unopposed to Maharashtra Legislative Council
May 14, 2020
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], May 14 : Nine candidates including Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday were elected unopposed to the state Legislative Council.
The poll results were declared as only nine nominations were filed for nine seats.
Initially, 14 candidates were in the fray but the nomination of an Independent candidate, Shahbaz Rathod, was found invalid during scrutiny.
Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, his party colleague Neelam Gorhe, four NCP leaders -- Shashikant Shinde, Amol Mitkari and Rajesh Rathod from Congress were elected as Council members.
Gopichand Padalkar, Pravin Datke, Ranjeetsinh Mohite Patil and Ramesh Karad were elected from BJP.
Some of the candidates also withdrew their nominations today.
Elections to the nine Legislative Council seats, which fell vacant on April 24, were withheld due to the coronavirus outbreak. The Election Commission later gave the go-ahead for the election to be held on May 21.
The polls were crucial for Thackeray, who sworn-in as the Maharashtra Chief Minister on November 28, last year but was not a member of either of the House -- Legislative Assembly or Legislative Council.
According to the Constitution, Thackeray has to be elected to either Assembly or Council within six months in order to continue in his post.
