Rajya Sabha elections: Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena on Monday sent its party MLAs to a hotel in Malad, just four days ahead of Rajya Sabha polls. Sources suggest that the move comes to foil any bids of horse-trading ahead of polls.
Earlier in the day, Thackeray had met with his MLAs at his official residence 'Varsha'. Sanjay Raut, Eknath Shinde, Subhash Desai were some key leaders present in the meeting.
Soon after the meeting, the MLAs were seen accompanied by policemen, boarding a luxury bus. They will be sent to The Retreat Hotel in Madh - Marve Rd. On Tuesday, Thackeray will hold a meeting with MLAs of Congress, NCP, Shiv Sena, independents and small parties of Mahavikas Aghadi in Hotel Trident. All MLAs of the MVA coalition will be then kept together.
The six Rajya Sabha seats from Maharashtra will go to polls on June 10. However, there are seven candidates in the fray for the polls, for which the state Assembly forms the electoral college.
Six seats in Maharashtra
Elections will be held on six Rajya Sabha seats from Maharashtra.
Shiv Sena nominated Sanjay Raut and Sanjay Pawar. The BJP, with its strength in the state Assembly, can win two Rajya Sabha seats on its own. The Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena can win one seat each. However, the Sena has fielded two candidates -Sanjay Raut and Sanjay Pawar – and is banking on surplus votes of the Congress and NCP for the victory.
The MVA government fielded four candidates. BJP nominated Union minister Piyush Goyal, Anil Bonde, and Dhananjay Mahadik.
The NCP nominated Praful Patel, while the Congress has fielded Imran Pratapgarhi. The NCP had already sought permission for two of its jailed leaders, Nawab Malik and Anil Deshmukh to vote in the elections.
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