MVA finalises 12 nominees for Legislative Council; Matondkar & Khadse in list: Sources

On Friday, the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra finalized the list of 12 nominated members to the Maharashtra Legislative Council. The Governor is mandated by the Constitution to nominate to the legislative council 12 members from the fields of literature, art, science, cooperative movement, and social service on the recommendation of the state government. As per sources, actor and former Congress leader Urmila Matondkar, Chandrakant Raghuwanshi, Vijay Karanjkar, and Nitin Bangude Patil have been selected from the Shiv Sena quota.

Sources added that ex-BJP leader Eknath Khadse, former Lok Sabha MP Raju Shetti, Yashpal Bhinge, and Anand Shinde have been chosen by NCP. On the other hand, Congress has reportedly shortlisted AICC in-charge of Jammu & Kashmir Rajni Patil, spokesperson Sachin Sawant, Muzaffar Hussain, and Aniruddha Vankar. NCP's Nawab Malik, Congress' Amit Deshmukh, and Shiv Sena's Anil Parab- Ministers in the state government formally handed over the list of names to Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari at the Raj Bhavan in Mumbai.

Read: Counting Of Votes For 4 MLC Seats Postponed To Nov 10

Row over CM's MLC nomination

As per Article 164(4) of the Constitution, a non-legislator ceases to be a minister if he is not elected to either House of the legislature within a period of 6 months. Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray who was not a member of either House since being sworn in on November 28, 2019, was set to be fielded as a candidate to one of the 9 MLC seats falling vacant on April 24. However, the Election Commission of India indefinitely postponed the Rajya Sabha and Legislative Council polls in the current period owing to the COVID-19 crisis.

Thus, the only option for Thackeray was to enter the Legislative Council as a nominated member. Despite the Maharashtra Cabinet recommending his nomination as an MLC twice, Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari refused to follow suit. The Sena chief reportedly had a telephonic conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding this issue on April 29.

A day later, the Governor wrote to the Election Commission of India requesting the election for the 9 MLC seats to be held soon. On May 1, the ECI agreed to this request and decided to conduct the MLC elections with the counting of votes scheduled on May 21. Finally, 9 candidates including Thackeray were elected unopposed to the Maharashtra Legislative Council on May 14, this averting a constitutional crisis. 

Read: Uddhav Cabinet To Discuss CM's MLC Nomination As Deadline Nears; Mulling EC & SC Options