A Reality Check for the MVA

THE SETBACK TO THE MVA IN THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL POLLS SHOWS THE DISCORD WITHIN. CROSS-VOTING CONGRESS MLAs MAY DEFECT TOO

- Dhaval S. Kulkarni

After a swashbuckling performance in the Lok Sabha election, the results in the Maharashtra legislative council polls have come as a setback to the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) comprising the Congress, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar). The ruling Mahayuti composed of the other trio—BJP, Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena and the Ajit Pawar-led NCP—won nine out of the 11 seats that went to the polls. What’s more, Jayant Patil of the Peasants and Workers Party (PWP), who was backed by the MVA, bit the dust amidst massive cross-voting, especially by Congress MLAs. While these legislators are expected to defect to the Mahayuti in the assembly polls due in October-November, their rebellion was only a part of the fault lines the defeat exposed within the MVA.

The electoral college for the polls consists of MLAs. Though the election take place by secret ballot, groups of MLAs are asked to mark their preference in a certain manner on the ballot paper, which helps reveal cross-voters. The effective strength of the 288-member Maharashtra assembly is down to 274 and, to win, each candidate needed around 23 first preference votes. The 78-member state council has 27 vacancies, including 12 seats nominated from the governor’s quota.