Congress leader Rajni Patil and BJP leader Sanjay Upadhyay on Wednesday filed their nominations for Rajya Sabha by-election, which was necessitated due to the death of the sitting MP Rajiv Satav. The by-election is slated for next month.
The Congress on Monday nominated Rajni Patil as its candidate for the October 4 Rajya Sabha by-election from Maharashtra. Patil is a former member of the Rajya Sabha and currently the in-charge of Congress' party affairs in Jammu and Kashmir.
Meanwhile, BJP has nominated Sanjay Upadhyay, general secretary of the party's Mumbai unit, for the October 4 Rajya Sabha by-election from Maharashtra.
The Rajya Sabha seat fell vacant following the demise of Rajeev Satav a few months ago. The last date for filing nomination papers for the bypoll is September 22. The scrutiny of papers will take place on September 23 and the last date for withdrawal of papers is September 27.
Voting will be held on October 4 and counting of votes will take place on the same day. The 288-member Maharashtra Legislative Assembly forms the electoral college for the bypoll.
The BJP has the highest 106 MLAs in the House, followed by Shiv Sena (56), NCP (53), Congress (43), Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (3), Samajwadi Party (2), AIMIM (2), Prahar Janshakti Party (2), MNS (1), CPM (1), Swambhimani Party (1), Rashtriya Samaj Paksh (1), Krantikari Shetkari Party (1), and Independents 13. One seat is lying vacant since the death of Congress MLA Raosaheb Antapurkar in April.
The Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition, which includes Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress, claims to have strength of 169 in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. The three parties together have 152 MLAs and have the support of 17 MLAs from smaller parties and independents.
While the BJP has 106 MLAs and has the support of 8 independents.
