Hours before the Election Commission of India (ECI) declared the schedule for the Maharashtra Assembly polls, seven Maharashtra Governor-approved ruling MahaYuti nominees were sworn in as the members of the Maharashtra Legislative Council on Tuesday.
The seven persons -- whose names were recommended by the BJP-led MahaYuti government on Monday afternoon and were approved by Maharashtra Governor CP Radhakrishnan later on Monday night -- were administered oath as MLCs by Maharashtra Legislative Council’s deputy chairperson Neelam Gorhe on Tuesday at a hurriedly held swearing ceremony at Vidhan Bhavan.
The swearing-in ceremony took place a few hours before the ECI declared the schedule for the Maharashtra Assembly polls.
The newly sworn-in MLCs include three representatives from the ruling BJP and two each from the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar-headed NCP.
The seven new MLCs are: BJP’s state women wing chief Chitra Wagh, the party's general secretary; and Dharmaguru Babusing Maharaj Rathod, a priest from the Banjara community (all from the BJP quota), former MLC Manisha Kayande and former MP Hemant Patil ( both from the Shinde Sena), senior NCP (Ajit Pawar) minister Chhagan Bhujbal’s son Pankaj Bhujbal and Idris Naikwadi, former Mayor of Sangli (both from the Ajit Pawar-led NCP)
In all, 12 MLC vacancies from the Governor’s quota have remained unfilled for more than four years.
At a meeting presided over by chief minister Eknath Shinde, the State Cabinet had on Monday recommended seven names to the Governor who approved the same late in the night. The remaining five MLC vacancies would be filled after the State Assembly polls.
It may be recalled that on October 20, 2020, the previous Shiv Sena-led MVA government had recommended 12 names, including that of Bollywood actress Urmila Matondekar, to the Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari for nomination as the MLCs from his quota. However, Governor Koshyari had kept the nominations on hold despite an intervention by the Bombay High Court.
Subsequently in June 2022, Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government was was toppled by the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and BJP alliance. Eknath Shinde became the Chief Minister, while Devendra Fadnavis took over as the Deputy chief minister. In February 2023, Governor Koshyari was replaced by Ramesh Bais. Of the 12 MLC vacancies, the Shinde government recommended seven names which were duly approved by the new Governor Bias on Monday night.
