MVA fields Sena's Gorhe for Council deputy chairperson's post

The ruling MVA on Monday named Shiv Sena MLC Neelam Gorhe for Tuesday's election for the post of Maharashtra Legislative Council's deputy chairperson, while the opposition BJP has fielded its leader Vijay alias Bhai Girkar.

The ruling MVA on Monday named Shiv Sena MLC Neelam Gorhe for Tuesday's election for the post of Maharashtra Legislative Council's deputy chairperson, while the opposition BJP has fielded its leader Vijay alias Bhai Girkar. Gorhe was accompanied by Transport Minister Anil Parab, NCPs Shashikant Shinde and Ashok alias Bhai Jagtap of the Congress while filing nomination.

Gorhe had held the post for a brief period before her previous term as a member of the Legislative Council ended in April this year. The Sena leader became a member of the Upper House again in the subsequently election. BJP legislators Suresh Dhas, Niranjan Davkhare, Prasad Lad and Ramesh Patil accompanied Girkar when he filed nomination for the poll.

Earlier in the day, council chairman Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar said the election for the post of deputy chairperson will be held on Tuesday, a decision that did not go down well with the opposition BJP. The BJP alleged that the election was announced in a hurried manner.

Earlier, the opposition party had called for postponing the election in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis. "Members are aware that an important post is lying vacant. The election for the same will be held on Tuesday," Nimbalkar said as he announced the poll schedule in the House on the first day of the two-day monsoon session.

Leader of Opposition in the Council Pravin Darekar of the BJP said the election should be postponed. "We had said (during a meeting of the business advisory committee) that the election should not be held at this juncture given the COVID-19 crisis.

You can see that several members are not present in the House today. All these members will be deprived of their (voting) rights," Darekar said. He noted that elections of all local governing bodies have also been postponed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We can postpone this (deputy chairpersons) election, too," the BJP leader said. The council chairman, however, maintained that it was prerogative to schedule the election.

Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar reached out to the opposition and called for electing the new deputy chairperson unopposed. "I request you (Darekar) to see that the deputy chairperson is elected unopposed. We should sit together and unanimously decide the same. We are ready for it," Pawar said on the floor of the House.

The BJP, however, named Girkar, who it said, has mass support in the Konkan region. The opposition party lacks numbers in the Upper House to get its candidate elected to the post.

The ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) comprises the Shiv Sena, the NCP and the Congress..