Mumbai: On Tuesday, the final day of nominations for the 12 July Maharashtra Legislative Council polls, the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) fielded Milind Narvekar, a close aide of party chief Uddhav Thackeray, as Maha Vikas Aghadi’s third candidate.
But going by the current composition of the state legislative assembly, which serves as the electoral college for the MLC elections, MVA has the numbers to get only two elected.
The ruling Mahayuti alliance has fielded nine candidates — five from the Bharatiya Janata Party, two from Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) and Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar) each.
With 14 vacancies in the 288-member house, the current strength of the assembly is 274. Each candidate needs the votes of 23 MLAs to get elected as an MLC.
The Mahayuti has the overall support of 200 MLAs, including Independents, while with the support of only 63, MVA is at least six votes short of the minimum requirement to get all three candidates elected.
The voting will be anonymous, and for its third candidate to win, MVA will have to rely on cross-voting by Mahayuti MLAs.
Speaking to the media Tuesday, former chief minister Thackeray exuded confidence and claimed that the ruling coalition faced the threat of cross-voting in the polls. He said, “If we weren’t sure of the win, we would not have placed a candidate. We are fighters. Mahayuti is in danger of cross-voting as many people were interested in contesting the election, but couldn’t. You will see what happens.”
The 2022 legislative council elections had also witnessed suspected cross-voting against the then MVA government, which had set off a chain of events that led to the split in Shiv Sena and the toppling of the government.
All 12 candidates fielded by the two sides for 11 seats of the legislative council filed their nominations Tuesday.
BJP has renominated Parinay Phuke, and nominated Amit Gorkhe, Sadabhau Khot and Yogesh Tilekar, besides former minister Pankaja Munde after she lost the Lok Sabha election.
CM Shinde-led Sena has fielded former MPs Krupal Tumane and Bhawana Gawli, who were denied tickets for Lok Sabha polls this time. Deputy CM Ajit Pawar’s NCP has fielded Rajesh Vitekar and Shivajirao Garje.
Congress has renominated Pradyna Satav and the NCP (Sharad Pawar) is supporting Jayant Patil, sitting MLC and Peasants and Workers Party of India leader.
MVA has clinched two of the four seats of the Legislative Council that went to polls last week.
Also Read: Another boost for MVA as Uddhav’s Sena wins both Mumbai seats in MLC polls. BJP retains Konkan
Narvekar’s political debut
Narvekar, often spotted next to Thackeray, rose through the ranks and went from being a gat pramukh to a back-channel operator to Thackeray’s personal assistant and party secretary.
Party insiders said that in his time with Shiv Sena, spanning over two decades — first with the undivided Sena and now with the UBT faction — Narvekar has played the role of an election strategist and crisis manager and even personally taken care of Thackeray’s medications.
Since the 1990s, he has been the most important point of contact for Thackeray. From Thackeray’s appointments to his trips, Narvekar has managed everything, even the decisions about ticket distribution.
In fact, when Shinde, along with other Sena MLAs, had rebelled the first time and left for Surat, Narvekar was sent along with Ravindra Phatak to bring him back.
In the last few months before the split, he had even grown closer to Shinde and speculations were rife that Narvekar would join him and leave Thackeray.
The ticket for MLC polls is being viewed as a reward for his loyalty. He is venturing into active politics for the first time.
He is also known to have good relations across party lines.
Litmus test for Mahayuti
In 2022, the MLC elections, which saw alleged cross-voting, had rocked the then MVA government in the state. It was right after these polls that Eknath Shinde, along with 33 MLAs and seven Independent MLAs, had left for Surat. This had subsequently led to the split in the Shiv Sena.
Elections for 10 legislative council seats in Maharashtra were held in June that year. The MVA had fielded six candidates — two each by alliance partners Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP — while the BJP had nominated five.
In these elections, MLAs indicate their preference for candidates by ranking them first and second in a secret vote.
In the 2022 polls, Congress’s Chandrakant Handore had lost despite the fact that the party had the numbers, pointing to cross-voting by MVA MLAs.
MVA is confident that a similar situation could arise this time, hurting Mahayuti’s chances.
After the drubbing in the Lok Sabha elections, where Mahayuti managed to win only 17 of the 48 seats, it has become important for the ruling alliance to keep its flock together.
The MLC polls are also crucial, considering the Maharashtra assembly elections are just a few months away.
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)