FPJ POLITICAL BUREAU Mumbai With terms of six members of State Legislative Council elected from Local Self Government bodies ending in May and June, the Election Commission has decided to hold biennial elections to the constituencies on May
25.
The prominent members are Anil Tatkare, brother of Water Resource Minister Sunil Tatkare and Dilip Deshmukh, brother of Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh.
As Vilasraos has sent his son Amit to Vidhan Sabha, it will be interesting to see whom he will prefer to represent in Council. With NCP having highest members in Local Self- government body, it will have a key role in the victory of the candidates. As both NCP and Congress have joined hands with either BJP or Shiv Sena in these local bodies, it will be interesting to see whether Congress- NCP will field joint candidates.
As BJP has a thin majority over Shiv Sena in Council, it will be important for the party to win at least one sitting seat of Amaravati where Congress and NCP are in majority. The defeat in Amaravati may in future result in BJP losing to leader of opposition post to Shiv Sena as in June there is elections for 10 more seats of councils.
While the notification for the poll will be issued on April 30, the last date for making nominations is May 7 and after scrutiny the next day, the last date for withdrawal of nominations is May 10. With this announce- ment, the code of conduct had come into force in 13 districts including Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Raigad immediately. Polling would be held on May 25 between 8 AM to 4 PM, counting would be held at 8 AM on May 28 and the election would be completed by May 30.
