Mumbai: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS)
abstained from voting in Monday’s by-election to the
Legislative Council from the MLAs quota.
Out of 289 members of the Legislative Assembly, 274
legislators voted, Vidhan Bhavan sources said.
The election was necessitated due to the resignation
of Shiv Sena MLC Kiran Pawaskar who joined the NCP.
Pawaskar was fielded again by the NCP for the lone seat
against Sena`s Rahul Narvekar.
Apart from the 13 members of the MNS, CPI (M) MLA
Rajaram Onzre and Shivajirao Kardile of BJP did not
participate in the polling.
The winning candidate needs to get 145 votes in the
house of 289 which includes a Governor nominated Anglo-India
member Bertrand Muller.
In the 289 member house, Congress has 82 MLAs while NCP
has 62. The ruling coalition has the support of 24
independents and other smaller parties.
Narvekar can bank on only 45 MLAs of Shiv Sena and 46 of
the BJP.
Counting of votes will be taken up later in the day.
PTI
