CM Uddhav Thackeray, with wife Rashmi, at Vidhan Bhavan on Monday. (Photo: Nirmal Harindran)

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and eight others took oath as members of the Legislative Council (MLC) on Monday.

Uddhav, along with Legislative Council deputy chairperson and Shiv Sena leader Neelam Gorhe; NCP’s Shashikant Shinde and Amol Mitkari; Congress’ Rajesh Rathod and BJP’s Ranjitsinh Mohite Patil, Gopichand Padalkar, Praveen Datke and Ramesh Karad, were declared elected unopposed on Thursday after only nine nominations were received for the nine seats.

Maharashtra Legislative Council Chairman Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar administered the oath at a function held at Vidhan Bhawan in Mumbai.

With this, Uddhav became the first Shiv Sena chief and second Thackeray to enter the state legislature. In October last year, his son Aaditya had won from Worli in the Assembly polls.

The election was important for Uddhav – who was sworn in as CM on November 28, 2019 – as he had to become a member of either houses of the legislature by May 27. Else, he, along with his Cabinet, would have had to resign.

Earlier this month, the Election Commission had announced polls for nine Legislative Council seats after Uddhav approached Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his intervention to avoid a constitutional crisis in the state.