7 Congress MLAs Cross-Voted In Key Maharashtra Polls: Sources

Mumbai: 

In a worrying sign for the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi in Maharashtra, which was riding high after winning 30 of 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state, at least seven Congress MLAs cross-voted for candidates from the ruling Mahayuti alliance in the Legislative Council polls on Friday, sources said. 

The polls, which are generally a straightforward affair, were seen as the semi-finals ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly elections – expected to be held around November – because 12 candidates were vying for 11 seats. 

The opposition alliance had forced the election by fielding one more candidate than it had the numbers to elect, possibly hoping to benefit from cross-voting by MLAs from the ruling coalition, but seems to have ended up losing votes instead.

The Maharashtra Assembly has a strength of 288 MLAs but currently has 274 sitting legislators. This meant that each MLC candidate needed 23 first-preference votes to win.

The Mahayuti – part of the larger NDA alliance – which consists of the BJP, the Eknath Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena and the Ajit Pawar wing of the NCP, fielded nine candidates and had 201 MLAs, including Independents and smaller parties, backing it. 

The Maha Vikas Aghadi, which is under the INDIA umbrella, has the Congress, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) as its key constituents and had put up three candidates despite having the support of only 67 MLAs.