In what turned out to be a day of twists and turns, the results of the fiercely contested election for six Rajya Sabha seats from Maharashtra were not declared till the time of writing this report after both ruling party and the Opposition having approached the Central Election Commission with complaints to declare votes of the opponent’s side invalid.
The counting for the election was delayed for hours after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) approached the Central Election Commission against the decision of Returning Officer (RO) in Maharashtra, who refused to cancel the votes of three MLAs of the MVA on a complaint by the BJP. The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) too, by late evening approached Delhi, taking objection against voting of BJP MLA Sudhir Mungantiwar and BJP-affiliated-independent MLA Ravi Rana over identical reasons.
Seven candidates are in the fray for six seats from Maharashtra with BJP staking claim on three seats while the MVA fielded four candidates. The battle for the sixth seat is between Sena’s Sanjay Pawar and BJP’s Dhananjay Mahadik.
