Amid desperate efforts by the Opposition BJP to woo independent MLAs to win the third Rajya Sabha seat in Maharashtra, a special court rejected pleas by two incarcerated former ministers and NCP MLAs Anil Deshmukh and Nawab Malik seeking temporary bail for a day to cast their votes in the RS polls.
This is seen as a setback for the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) — comprising Shiv Sena, NCP, and Congress — which is trying to safeguard its MLAs against an alleged poaching bid by the BJP.
Polling for 16 Rajya Sabha seats in four States will be held on Friday amid allegations of attempts at horse-trading by rival parties which have corralled their MLAs in hotels and scenic resorts, prompting the Election Commission to appoint special observers and order videography of the poll.
Prominent among those whose electoral fate will be decided are Union Ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal, Congress candidates Randeep Surjewala, Jairam Ramesh and Mukul Wasnik, and Shiv Sena’s ubiquitous face Sanjay Raut. All these leaders are expected to win without a hiccup.
The BJP has 106 MLAs and it enjoys the support of five Independent MLAs and two MLAs from smaller parties.
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Court rejects jailed NCP MLAs’ plea to let them vote in RS polls
After hearing the arguments by the advocates of both Deshmukh and Malik and also counsels for the Enforcement Directorate (ED) which had opposed their pleas by the two former ministers being prisoners had no voting rights, the special court on Thursday rejected the two NCP leaders who are sitting members in the State Assembly polls.
The counsels for Deshmukh and Malik announced that they would challenge the order in the Bombay High Court. As of now they will not be able to vote in the RS polls, unless the high court hears their pleas on Friday morning and allows them to exercise their voting rights in the RS polls.
Considering the strengths of major contending parties in the 288-member Maharashtra Legislative Assembly that is an electoral college for the polls, the ruling MVA can win four out of six RS seats, while the BJP can win two seats.
With the rejection of the pleas by Deshmukh and Malik, the strength of the ruling MVA has come down to 168 MLAs --- Shiv Sena 55 (one MLA Ramesh Latke, died in Dubai last week), NCP 51, Congress 44, smaller parties/groups 10 and 8 Independents.
On its part, the BJP has muddled the RS poll scene in the State by putting up a third candidate Dhananjay Mahadik in addition to its two regular candidates — Union Minister Piyush Goyal and its other leader Anil Bonde.
On the other hand, the MVA constituents have together fielded four candidates. While the Shiv Sena has re-nominated Sanjay Raut for a fourth term and its Kolhapur district unit chief Sanjay Pawar, the NCP has re-fielded former Civil Aviation Minister Minister and Sharad Pawar’s confidante Praful Patel. The Congress has sprung a surprise by putting up Imran Pratapgarhi, a Uttar Pradesh-based Urdu poet, as its candidate for the polls.
As per the understanding reached among the ruling MVA constituents on the basis of their respective strengths in the Maharashtra Assembly polls, the ruling Shiv Sena is contesting two seats, while the NCP and Congress are fielding one candidate each. For winning a RS seat, the approximate number of votes required is 42.
After winning one seat each, the MVA will still have additional 44 MLAs with whose support it can win one more RS seat. On their part, the NCP and Congress have decided to transfer their additional votes to the Shiv Sena.
In all, there are a total 29 MLAs from smaller parties and independents. The ruling MVA enjoys the support of a majority of Independents and MLAs from smaller parties.
Two Samajwadi Party (SP) MLAs -- Rais Shaikh and Abu Asim Azmi – have pledged their support to the MVA. CPM's Vinod Nikole, Swabhimani Paksha's Devendra Bhuyar and independent MLAs Ashish Jaiswal, Chandrakant Patil, Shyam Sunder Shinde have also extended their support to the MVA. The MVA leaders have said that the three parties collectively enjoyed the support of 14 MLAs – both Independents and the ones from the smaller parties.
The BJP, which has a combined strength of 113 seats as against an approximate strength of 126 needed for winning three seats, needs as many as 16 votes from outside to win the third seat.
Having made it a prestige issue to win the third RS, the BJP – known for its poaching abilities – is going whole hog to wean away as many as 16 additional MLAs – mostly Independents and the ones from the smaller parties from the ruling MVA camp. It remains to be seen if the BJP will succeed its operation “Kamal” in Friday’s polls.
In Haryana, where voting will take place for two seats, the MLAs of the ruling BJP and some of its ally JJP were lodged for the second day in a resort near Chandigarh. The Congress legislators are also in a resort in Chhattisgarh amid apprehension of poaching.
When asked about the mounting threat of horse-trading by rival parties, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar told reporters in New Delhi: “We have appointed special observers in all the four places (states). The entire process will be videographed.”
While the BJP, with 40 MLAs in the 90-member Haryana Assembly, has nine more than the 31 first preference votes required for a straight win, the contest has become keen for the second seat with the entry of media baron Kartikeya Sharma, an Independent. He has the backing
of BJP-JJP combine, most of the Independents, and Gopal Kanda, lone MLA of the Haryana Lokhit Party.
The BJP has fielded former Minister Krishan Lal Panwar, while Ajay Maken, a former Union minister, is the Congress nominee.
The Congress has 31 members in the state Assembly, just enough to help its candidate win a seat. Its prospects could be in jeopardy in case of cross-voting.
In the 90-member Haryana Assembly, the BJP has 40 MLAs while the Congress has 31. The JJP, an ally of the BJP, has 10 legislators, while the Indian National Lok Dal and Haryana Lokhit Party have one each. There are seven Independents.
In Karnataka, the main opposition Congress and JD(S) of former prime minister H D Deve Gowda continued to wrangle over the fourth seat they could win if one of them supported the other. Altogether six candidates are in the fray for four seats, necessitating a keen contest for the fourth.
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