BJP announces 4 candidates for Maharashtra Legislative Council polls

Mumbai: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday (May 3) named four of its candidates for the upcoming biennial elections for Maharashtra Legislative Council. Elections in the state are scheduled to be held on May 21.

The four candidates are Pravin Datke, Gopichand Padalkar, Ajit Gopchade, and Ranjit Singh Mohite Patil.

__________ __________ ____________ _______ _______ _____.
____ ___________ _________ _______ ___ ________ ! @BJP4India declares candidates for Maharashtra Vidhan Parishad elections.
Congratulations to all the candidates and best wishes ! #mlcelection pic.twitter.com/sRU6er1FKC

— _____ __________ (@BJP4Maharashtra) May 8, 2020

Nine seats for the council fell vacant on April 24 but the elections were withheld by the Election Commission of India due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, all elections were suspended by the poll watchdog in the wake of the pandemic, even before the nationwide lockdown was announced on March 24. The process to fill nine vacant seats in the Maharashtra Legislative Council was also withheld.

Since Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, who took oath on November 28 last year, is not a member of either house of the state legislature, he needs to get elected to the Council before May 27, 2020, failing which he will have to step down.

Last week, the poll body allowed holding elections to the Legislative Council in Maharashtra while mandating that all the necessary guidelines have to be followed for everyone's safety against coronavirus in the state.