Respite for Uddhav Thackeray after Maharashtra Governor recommends Council polls

Shiv Kumar
Tribune News Service
Mumbai, April 30

Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Thursday urged the Election Commission to fill the nine vacant seats in the state legislative council at the earliest.

According to a statement issued by Raj Bhavan, the governor has asked the EC to fill the nine seats with a view to end political uncertainty in the state.

He noted that the elections could be held subject to various guidelines issued by the government due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

“The elections to the Council seats can be held with certain guidelines,” Koshyari’s letter said.

The elections were due to be held on March 26, but due to the countrywide lockdown the EC postponed all polls till further notice.

This put Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray in a spot since he completes six months in office on May 28 and needs to be elected before that date.

The state Cabinet had recommended that Thackeray be nominated to the upper house earlier this month.

However, Raj Bhavan did not act on the request and Thackeray had a telephonic conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday.

Earlier today Milind Narvekar and Eknath Shinde, two close lieutenants of Thackeray, met with the governor to discuss the issue.

The governor’s statement came shortly afterwards.