Maharashtra council polls was contest between money and people's power, claims Raut

Mumbai: The Maharashtra legislative council polls, which the Mahayuti swept by winning nine out of 11 seats it contested, was a contest between money and people's power, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut claimed on Saturday.

The ruling alliance on Friday won all the nine seats it contested in the biennial elections, while the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi faced a setback after Peasants and Workers' Party (PWP) candidate Jayant Patil, backed by NCP (SP), lost due to cross-voting by opposition MLAs.

Twelve candidates were in the fray for 11 seats, of which the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won five, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) bagged two each.

Talking to reporters, Raut stressed that MVA candidate Jayant Patil's defeat was not a setback for the opposition alliance.

Though legislators from the Congress cross-voted in the council polls, no one from the Shiv Sena (UBT) or NCP (SP) ditched the opposition camp, he said.

"The council poll was a contest between money power and people's power," the Sena (UBT) leader said, alleging that the "rate" of the MLAs of smaller parties and independents was soaring like a stock market.

He further claimed that some legislators were given two acres of land.

Raut said the opposition camp depended on the Samajwadi Party, AIMIM and other smaller parties.

"MLAs who think they are secular, who believe in the socialist ideology, there are many like that (who did not vote for the MVA candidate). The rate for MLAs ranged from Rs 20 crore to Rs 25 crore.

The MVA will not play such a game," he said, alluding that these parties did not vote for the MVA.

There was no reason for the Shiv Sena and NCP to celebrate as "traitors got traitors elected", Raut said.

From the MVA, Milind Narvekar, a close aide of Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, and Congress candidate Pradnya Satav won Friday's elections.

However, PWP's Patil lost the polls, dealing a blow to the MVA, comprising the Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress, NCP (SP) and some smaller parties.

The election was necessitated as 11 members of the legislative council (MLCs) are completing their six-year term on July 27.

The 288-member legislative assembly was the electoral college for the polls, and its current strength is 274. Each winning candidate required 23 votes.

The BJP is the largest party in the assembly with 103 members, followed by the Shiv Sena (38), NCP (42), Congress (37), Shiv Sena (UBT) 15 and NCP (SP) 10.

The Congress, which has 37 MLAs, had fixed a quota of 30 first preference votes for its candidate Satav, and seven remaining votes were to go to its ally Sena (UBT)'s nominee Narvekar, party sources said.

Eventually, Satav got 25 and Narvekar 22 first preference votes, which meant some Congress MLAs cross-voted.