Shiv Sena confused over party candidate for RS polls?

Sena divided over whether or not to field a Marathi candidate

Mumbai: The biennial Rajya Sabha elections for seven seats from Maharashtra which is scheduled on March 26 is expected to be held unopposed. The ruling Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) along with opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have finalised their nominees. However, the Shiv Sena looks confused over whom to name as the party candidate.

There are seven sitting Rajya Sabha members are retiring on April 2. The last date to file nomination for the poll is March 13. Udayan Raje Bhosale, the BJP candidate filed his nomination today at the election office in Vidhan Bhavan. 

“The BJP has 105 legislators and it has nine independent supporter MLA’s. We will easily win three seats if there will be a contest. But, I hope the election will be unopposed, ” Devendra Fadnavis, Leader of Opposition (LoP) had told reporters last week while speaking in Vidhan Bhavan.

Of the total seven seats, BJP has fielded three candidates, NCP 2 while Congress and Shiv Sena each one. Congress and Sena seem to have allowed NCP to contest two seats even if though it does not have its own adequate quota of votes to win two seats. The winning candidate will need to secure 36.01 quota votes to win the seat in the event of the contest.

Also Read: Maha: Congress nominates Rajeev Satav for RS polls

The NCP can win the second seat by pooling surplus votes of NCP, Congress and Sena. NCP has 54 votes, Sena has 56 while Congress has 44 votes in the Lower House of the state legislature. The 288 MLA’s of the lower house have right of voting in the RS polls.

The BJP has fielded Union Minister for Social Justice Ramdas Athawale, Udayan Raje Bhosale and Dr Bhagwat Karad for RS polls. The NCP has given nomination to party chief Sharad Pawar and Faujiya Khan. Khan is NCP’s national president of women wing. The Congress announced the nomination of Rajiv Satav. Satav was Member of Parliament during 2014-19. He did not contest the 2019 LS polls.

The Shiv Sena has not yet announced the name of the party candidate. According to sources, Priyanka Chaturvedi, party spokesperson is the front runner for the candidate of RS polls. Chaturvedi though based in Mumbai, is North Indian and was Congress’ national spokesperson before joining Sena last year. A section in Sena is dissatisfied with Priyanka’s elevation as RS member and arguing for Marathi candidate instead of North Indian.

“The Sena had in the past given opportunity to non-Marathi leaders like Chandrika Kenia, Pritish Nandy, Mukesh Patel, Rajkumar Dhoot and Sanjay Nirupam to represent the party in Upper House. But they were not potential for the party. Today, we are in power in the state and at such time the party president and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray should consider any Marathi leader for RS polls,” said a disappointed Sena leader on condition of anonymity.

Meanwhile, Friday, March 13 is the last day of filing nomination.