‘We are disappointed,’ says NCP after court denies voting right to two jailed MLAs

MVA may lose out of two votes following the court’s decision

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) said that the special court’s decision to deny voting right to two jailed party MLAs Anil Deshmukh and Nawab Malik in Friday’s Rajya Sabha election has disappointed it. The polling for six Rajya Sabha seats from Maharashtra will take place on June 10.

“Both of them are accused in different cases and have not been proven guilty as of now. Our demand was that both of them should be given the right to vote and no offence has been proven. But the court did not accept our demand and they are deprived of their right to vote,” said NCP State chief Jayant Patil.

Mr. Patil said that he would not comment on the court’s decision, but his party feels disappointed due to the order. With seven candidates in fray for six Rajya Sabha seats, the June 10 polling would mean that each and every vote is of importance. The ruling MVA may lose out of two votes following the court’s decision. The MLAs have however approached the Bombay High Court at the time of writing the report.

As per the present calculations, each candidate requires 42 votes to get elected to Rajya Sabha. As a result of death of one of its MLAs, Shiv Sena’s MLA strength stand at 55 (due to the death of one its MLAs) while that of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is 53 and of Congress is 44. Based on this, three candidates of MVA will be elected with ease.

For BJP, with its 106 MLAs and support of six others (including four independents), victory of two of its candidates is certain. The battle will be for the sixth seat between Sena’s Sanjay Pawar and BJP’s Dhananjay Mahadik. The NCP has already announced to transfer its extra votes to ally Sena’s second candidate Sanjay Pawar. Apart from three parties, Prahar (2), Krantikari Shetkari Party (1) are part of the State government. It could get support of Samajwadi Party (2), CPM (1), Swabhimani Party (1), Peasants and Workers Party (1) and nine independents.

Three MLAs of Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA), two from AIMIM and a lone MLA from Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) have not yet opened their cards.