In Maharashtra, the by-polls for the Legislative Council are set to remain uncontested, as the nomination of independent candidate Umesh Mhatre was declared invalid during scrutiny today.
This has set the stage for the unopposed election of BJP’s three candidates Sandeep Joshi, Sanjay Kenekar, and Dadarao Keche along with NCP’s Sanjay Khodke and Shiv Sena’s Chandrakant Raghuvanshi to the Upper House of the state legislature.
The opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi camp refrained from nominating any candidate due to a lack of numbers. The five Legislative Council seats became vacant after sitting MLAs won the Assembly elections last year.
The five seats fell vacant after members from the ruling alliance – three from the BJP and one each from Shiv Sena and NCP – were elected to the legislative assembly in November 2024. Since the pending terms for the five MLCs were different, the new MLCs who get elected in their place on March 27 will also have different tenures.