Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday was elected a Member of the Legislative Council unopposed.
Of the 13 nominations filed for the biennial May 21 State Council polls, four nominations were withdrawn by May 14, the last day of withdrawal. The remaining nine were declared winners by the Chief Election Officer of the State.
Among those who were declared winners are Mr. Thackeray and Neelam Gorhe from the Shiv Sena. Shashikant Shinde and Amol Mitkari from the Nationalist Congress Party, and Rajesh Rathod from the Congress.
From the Opposition, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Gopichand Padalkar, Pravin Datke, Ramesh Karad and Ranjitainh Mohite-Patil were elected. Mr. Karad was originally a dummy candidate but was asked to continue his nomination at the last minute, leading to speculation of discontent within the BJP over selection of candidates.
The biennial polls were necessitated as Mr. Thackeray, who was not a member of any of the legislative Houses, had to become one before May 28. Mr. Thackeray was sworn in as the CM on November 28.
With all elections postponed due to COVID-19, the State government was staring at a possible instability. In case of Mr. Thackeray not being elected, he would have had to resign, leading to collapse of the government.