Maharashtra: BJP fields Pankaja Munde, four others for MLC elections 2024

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday announced the names of five candidates including Pankaja Munde for the upcoming Legislative Council elections in Maharashtra. The saffron party has fielded Pankaja Munde, Yogesh Tilekar, Dr Parinay Phuke, Amit Gorkhe, and Sadabhau.

The biennial elections for 11 seats of the Upper House of the state legislature will be held on July 12. Munde, the party's national general secretary, lost the state assembly polls in 2019 and the recently held Lok Sabha elections from Beed against NCP (SP)'s Bajrang Sonawane. 

Tilekar hails from Pune, Khot is from Sangli, and Gorkhe is a BJP functionary from Pimpri Chinchwad and belongs to the Matang community, one of the backward classes in the state. Phuke is from Nagpur and known to be close to BJP leader and deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. 

The six-year term in office of 11 MLCs, elected by the Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs), is due to end on July 27 on their retirement. 

The biennial election to the upper house is being held just months ahead of assembly polls, which are due in October. 

With 14 vacancies in the 288-member house, the electoral college is 274, and the quota for the winning candidate is 23. 

The Ajit Pawar-led NCP has 41 MLAs, the Eknath Shinde-led Sena has 40, and the BJP has 103. The Congress has 37, Shiv Sena (UBT) has 13, and NCP (SP) has 15.

(With inputs from PTI)