All six candidates from Maharashtra running for Rajya Sabha elections, including Congress turncoat Ashok Chavan, were on Tuesday declared elected unopposed. The BJP had fielded three nominees, including Chavan, while the Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde and the NCP had one each. The opposition Congress had fielded one nominee. Chavan, former MLA Medha Kulkarni, and RSS worker Ajit Gopchade are among the BJP nominees who have been declared unopposed.
These six Members of Parliament were earlier selected unopposed for the Rajya Sabha. Among them, three are from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), while one is from the Shiv Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and the Congress.
Earlier the ruling coalition in Maharashtra had decided not to field a fourth candidate in the Rajya Sabha elections, providing some relief to the Congress, which is still reeling from the shock of senior leader Ashok Chavan joining the BJP. It already meant that all six candidates, including Chavan and Congress' former minister Chandrakant Handore, will be elected unopposed to the upper house of Parliament.
The BJP nominated Chavan, former MLA Medha Kulkarni, and Sangh Parivar activist Ajit Gopchade.
The Shiv Sena, led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, has chosen former Union Minister Milind Deora as its candidate, while the Nationalist
Congress Party (NCP), led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, chosen incumbent Rajya Sabha MP and former Union Minister Praful Patel.
It is to be noted that none of the six outgoing Rajya Sabha members from the state have been renominated. They are Union Ministers Narayan Rane and V. Muraleedharan, former Union Minister Prakash Javadekar (all from the BJP), Shiv Sena's Anil Desai (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), senior journalist Kumar Ketkar (Congress), and Vandana Chavan of the Sharad Pawar faction of the NCP. Due to splits in their parent parties, the Shiv Sena (UBT) and Sharad Pawar camps lack the numbers in the legislative assembly to secure approximately 42 votes to elect their candidates.