Mumbai: Amid immense friction within the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has also thrown its hat in the ring for the lone Rajya Sabha seat that the alliance has the numbers for, thickening the plot.
Earlier, both Congress and the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena had also staked claim to the Rajya Sabha seat.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Supriya Sule, Lok Sabha MP from the Pawar family turf of Baramati, said, while she hasn’t discussed Sharad Pawar’s Rajya Sabha candidature with Sharad Pawar himself yet, all her party colleagues want to see him in the Rajya Sabha and they have established dialogue with MVA allies about it.
“Just yesterday, Jayant Patil (senior MLA from Sharad Pawar-led NCP) and Shashikant Shinde (state president of the party) asked for Uddhavji’s (Uddhav Thackeray’s) time on the issue,” Sule said, adding that she had also personally requested Anil Desai and Sanjay Raut, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MP, respectively, from the Thackeray-led Shiv Sena.
“I personally requested them to help us send Pawarsaheb to the Rajya Sabha. Our MLAs yesterday also met all Congress leaders about it and if needed, I will also meet the Congress leadership in Delhi,” Sule said, adding her 85-year-old father has six decades of political experience and party leaders think he should take the work forward.
Polls to 37 Rajya Sabha seats across the country will be held on 16 March. Of these, seven seats are from Maharashtra. Seven incumbent Rajya Sabha MPs from Maharashtra will finish their terms in April 2026. Other than Pawar, these include Fauziya Khan from the Sharad Pawar-led NCP, Priyanka Chaturvedi from the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, Rajani Patil from the Congress, Ramdas Athavale from the Republican Party of India (RPI), and Bhagwat Karad and Dhairyasheel Patil and from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
All eyes were on Sharad Pawar, the chief architect of the MVA. In the past, he had on a few occasions expressed his intent to retire from active politics, but never followed through. However, his possible candidature has pushed MVA parties to demand the seat for themselves even more strongly.
The MVA tug of war
None of the three MVA parties have the numbers to get a candidate elected on their own strength. The Thackeray-led Shiv Sena has 20 seats, the Congress has 16 and the Sharad Pawar-led NCP has 10. Pooling their strength together, the MVA can comfortably get only one Rajya Sabha MP elected.
On the day Sule said her party will try to build consensus within the MVA for Sharad Pawar’s candidature, Thackeray-led Shiv Sena MLA Aaditya Thackeray reiterated his party’s claim to the lone Rajya Sabha seat that MVA can nominate for, calling it a “logical, political and technical claim” and one that’s based on truth and principle.
In a veiled comment, he also hinted that the political stand of the Sharad Pawar-led NCP was different from that of the MVA.
“If you look at the MVA now, the things that we are raising our voice against include the Adanikaran of Mumbai, Maharashtra and Dharavi, the attacks on the Indian Constitution. The fight that we and the Congress are fighting is clear,” Thackeray junior said.
“Our two Rajya Sabha MPs as part of the INDIA bloc in Parliament—I don’t know about anyone else, some walk out, some (support) Adani—but our two MPs are firmly with the Congress. I don’t know who is with the India bloc right now in the country, but Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) keeps giving a fight,” he added.
The Worli MLA said the MVA has always followed the principle of house strength for power sharing, and going by the current strength in the house, the Thackeray-led Shiv Sena has the most seats than the others in the MVA. So, all 20 of its MLAs want their candidate to go to the Rajya Sabha, he said.
He also added that this wasn’t personal, and on a subjective basis he has a lot of respect for Sharad Pawar.
“Now the only question is, who has the maximum seats, and who has the loudest voice in the Rajya Sabha? That is us,” Thackeray said.
“I am not talking about my personal opinion. I am giving the opinion of the party. As an individual, of course I have respect (for Sharad Pawar),” he added.
On Monday, Congress President Harshvardhan Sapkal had also strongly claimed that the Rajya Sabha seat was in its kitty, saying it is important for the Congress to increase its strength in the upper house of Parliament.
He suggested that the Thackeray-led Shiv Sena could get Uddhav re-elected as MLC in Maharashtra’s upper house, while the Rajya Sabha seat should be left for the Congress.
Thackeray’s term as MLC expires in May 2026.
“The Congress has its Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge in the Rajya Sabha. Overall we should look at this election from the point of view of how we can best counter the BJP,” Sapkal had said.
Congress leaders also say they are wary of the Rajya Sabha seat going to the Sharad Pawar-led NCP with talk of a merger with the Ajit Pawar-led NCP.
The numbers game
As per the poll programme announced by the Election Commission, the last date to file nominations is 5 March, while candidates can withdraw their nominations till 9 March. The votes will be counted from 5 pm on 16 March, after polling ends.
Roughly, every candidate will need at least 37 votes to win. In the 2024 assembly polls, the BJP won 132 seats, the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena won 57, and the Ajit Pawar-led NCP got 41 on the ruling Mahayuti’s side. On the MVA’s side, the Thackeray-led Shiv Sena got 20, the Congress got 16 and the Sharad Pawar-led NCP got 10.
While none of the three MVA parties have the numbers to get a candidate elected on their own strength, as far as the Mahayuti is concerned, the BJP with 132 seats in the assembly (currently 131 with the death of MLA Shivaji Kardile) can get 3-4 Rajya Sabha MPs elected, the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena can get one elected with its 57 seats and have about 20 surplus votes remaining, and the Ajit Pawar-led NCP can get one elected with 41 seats (currently 40 with Ajit Pawar’s death), and have three surplus votes.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
Also read: Internal fighting saw Mahayuti & MVA form unlikely ties in some seats. How they fared in Maharashtra