Hours before the announcement of the Assembly elections, Maharashtra Governor C P Radhakrishnan, acting on the recommendation of the State Cabinet, late on Monday approved the names of seven Members of Legislative Council (MLCs) for the 12 vacant posts under the Governor’s quota.
Maharashtra Legislative Council Deputy Speaker Neelam Gorhe will administer the oath to newly appointed MLCs at noon on Tuesday, before the announcement of the Assembly polls by the Election Commission of India at 3.30 pm.
Out of the seven MLC seats, the ruling coalition of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has got three, and the Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) have got two each. The newly appointed MLCs from the BJP are its state women’s wing chief Chitra Wagh, state general secretary Vikrant Patil, and spiritual leader of Banjara community Dharmaguru Babusingh Maharaj Rathod. The NCP has nominated former MLA Pankaj Bhujbal and Idris Naikwadi – a minority face from Western Maharashtra. The Shiv Sena has nominated former MLC Manish Kayande and former Lok Sabha MP Hemant Patil.
According to sources within the ruling Mahayuti, five seats have been kept vacant as those are likely to be filled after the elections.
The Maya Vikas Aghadi (MVA) gave its list to the then Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari twice in two-and-a-half years of its functioning, requesting him to approve the proposed names for the 12 vacant MLC seats. However, Koshyari neither rejected nor accepted the nominations. While the MVA approached the Bombay High Court in this regard, the court refused to give any direction to the Governor.
After taking over, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde wrote to Koshyari in 2022, requesting him to withdraw 12 names proposed by his predecessor Uddhav Thackeray to be nominated to the vacant posts of MLCs under the Governor’s quota.
The Bombay High Court bench headed by then Chief Justice Dipankar Datta (now a Supreme Court judge), in its August 13, 2021, order said that it is “desirable” that Koshyari decides on the 12 nominations at the earliest since more than eight months had already passed. The High Court bench added it was the Governor’s obligation to accept or return recommendations made by the Cabinet within a reasonable time, and that seats in the Legislative Council “cannot be kept vacant indefinitely”.
On September 26, 2022, a Supreme Court bench headed by Justice K M Joseph said the “matter needs consideration” and directed the Maharashtra government not to take any steps in connection with the vacant posts, and the same was continued from time to time till July 11. However, on July 11, keeping the question of law open, the apex court allowed intervenor Sunil Modi to institute independent proceedings, after which he approached the High Court.
During Modi’s petition, the Maharashtra Government submitted before the Bombay High Court that to date there are no new recommendations.
