Voting commences for Maharashtra Legislative Council elections

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Voting for the biennial Maharashtra Legislative Council elections began on Friday morning at the Vidhan Bhavan complex. In the polls for 11 seats in the Maharashtra Legislative Council, Sanjay Gaikwad of the Shiv Sena was the first to vote under the secret ballot procedure. Twelve people are vying for the eleven available seats, reported PTI.

According to the report, voting will take place from 9 am to 4 pm, while the Shiv Sena (UBT) has requested a one-hour extension due to severe rain in Mumbai. The electoral college for the polls is made up of the 288-member legislative assembly, which currently has 274 members. Each successful candidate must receive a minimum of 23 first-preference votes.

Maharashtra Legislative Council elections are being held to replace the vacancies that will be created by the 11 members of the state legislature's upper house retiring on July 27.

The BJP has filed five candidates, while its Mahayuti partners the Shiv Sena and NCP have nominated two candidates. The Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) have each fielded one candidate, while the NCP (SP), a member of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), is backing the Peasants and Workers Party (PWP) nomination.

Although the MVA lacks the necessary numbers to gain a third candidate, it is counting on potential cross-voting from some NCP and Shiv Sena MLAs who are members of the Mahayuti alliance. Recently, the NCP (SP) stated that several MLAs from Ajit Pawar's faction were in communication with the opposing party for a potential return after MVA's strong performance in the Lok Sabha polls.

Ahead of the elections today, BJP's candidate Pankaja Munde visited and offered prayers at Siddhivinayak Temple in Mumbai. Pictures and videos from her visit to the temple surfaced on social media.

In another video that surfaced online, Nationalist Congress Party ministers and MLAs including Ajit Pawar and Sunil Tatkare could be seen seated in a bus as they made their way to Vidhan Bhavan for the Maharashtra Legislative Council Elections.