Election Commission decides to hold MLC elections in Maharashtra amid CM Uddhav's deadline

Election Commission of India (ECI) in its meeting on Friday decided to hold elections to Legislative Council in Maharashtra. Goverr Bhagat Singh Koshyari, on Thursday, had requested Election Commission of India to declare elections to 9 vacant seats of Maharashtra Legislative Council ‘at earliest’.

In his letter,  Goverr pointed out that Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray who is t a member of eir house of State Legislature needs to get elected to Council before May 27, 2020. This development comes a day after Thackeray spoke to PM Modi over delay in his mination to state council.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sunil Arora, who is stranded in United States due to lockdown, joined meeting via video conferencing. Arora went to US early March and was supposed to come back in first week of April but could t as India stopped international and domestic flights from March 25 onwards.

Earlier in day, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray paid a courtesy visit to Raj Bhavan on occasion of 'Maharashtra Day' and met Goverr Bhagat Singh Koshyari, for around 20 minutes. According to sources, Uddhav discussed a variety of issues with Goverr which includes state's handling of COVID-19 crisis.

Maharashtra Cabinet reminds Goverr

On April 27, state cabinet sent a reminder to Goverr Koshyari on minating Thackeray to Maharashtra legislative council as goverr's pick. Koshyari is yet to accept mination, as two seats from goverr's quota are currently unfilled - after 2 NCP councillors resigned to join BJP. After cabinet's reminder, two PILs have been filed with Bombay High Court, urging for holding immediate elections to get Thackeray elected to Council.

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Thackeray was sworn-in as Maharashtra Chief Minister on vember 28, last year. He is currently t a member of eir of House -- Legislative Assembly or Legislative Council. According to Constitution, Thackeray has to be elected to eir Assembly or Council within six months in order to continue in his post. Uddhav Thackeray had also dialled PM Modi regarding mination.

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