Tough contest for Rane in State council by-poll

Tough contest for Rane in State council by-poll

Mumbai: After leaving Congress, senior leader Narayan Rane resigned from his membership of State Legislative Council. The by-election for the vacated seat will be held on December 7, according to the Election Commission of India. The by-election will unveil the complexity of State politics.

It is very tough for Rane to get re-elected though the BJP supports him in this by-poll.

The BJP will be in a fix over whether to give Rane a chance to contest, as the Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP will not vote for Rane and it would be tough for him to get re-elected as a member of legislative council (MLC). Rane’s entry in the by-election will make it an interesting contest. The results of the by-poll will be declared on the same day (December 7) of the polling.

Rane had resigned as an MLC before leaving Congress and formed his own party Maharashtra Swabhiman Paksha. Then he joined National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and extended his support to the alliance.
BJP will support Rane in the by-poll. But there is no clear directive or signal that Rane would be inducted into the State cabinet. All the leaders in BJP are saying that Rane will be inducted in the cabinet at the right time.

However, BJP’s alliance partner, Shiv Sena, is against Rane’s induction. If Rane is given a ticket in MLC by-poll, he would need Shiv Sena’s support to win. As of now, in an assembly of 288 members, BJP has 122 MLAs, Sena 63, Congress 42, NCP 41 and others 20. Earlier, it was proposed by NCP’s Ajit Pawar that if BJP poached any leader from these three parties, then in that case, all parties should come together and field a single candidate against BJP’s nominee.

All the opposition parties including Shiv Sena come together, then it would be tough for Rane to win the election with only support from  BJP. Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP’s tally together goes up to 146. BJP’s 122 plus 8 independents, which are with BJP, gives it a tally of 130. BJP needs to poach minimum 15 votes from Congress or Shiv Sena or NCP to get Rane elected.

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