Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole has said “traitors” from the party who cross-voted in the recent elections to 11 legislative council seats have been identified and will be punished.

“The same “traitors” had ensured the defeat of the Congress leader Chandrakant Handore in the council elections two years ago,” Mr. Patole claimed on July 13.

“A trap was laid this time and they have been identified. They will be punished so that no one dares to betray the party again,” Mr. Patole told reporters in Mumbai, without taking any name.

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut, while talking to reporters on July 14, said the Congress has accepted that cross-voting took place and they will take action accordingly.

“The Central government is going to observe the imposition of Emergency as ‘Samvidhaan Hatya Diwas’. Isn’t it unconstitutional to get MLCs elected by MLAs who are facing disqualification? Isn’t it unconstitutional to purchase MLAs by bribing them? BJP is the real murderer of the Constitution,” Mr. Raut alleged.

Following a split in the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the Shiv Sena (UBT) headed by Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar’s NCP (SP) had moved court seeking disqualification of MLAs of the parties led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar.

The ruling ‘Mahyuti’ in the State, comprising the Shiv Sena led by CM Shinde, the BJP and Ajit Pawar-headed NCP, on July 12 won all the nine seats it contested in the biennial elections to 11 seats in the legislative council.

The Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) faced a setback as a candidate backed by Sharad Pawar’s NCP (SP) lost. At least seven Congress MLAs defied the party’s directive while voting, results showed.

“The Congress, which has 37 MLAs, had fixed a quota of 30 first preference votes for its candidate Pradyna Satav, and seven remaining votes were to go to Milind Narvekar, candidate of the ally Shiv Sena (UBT),” party sources earlier said.

Eventually, Mr. Satav got 25 and Narvekar 22 first preference votes, which meant at least seven Congress MLAs cross-voted. Jayant Patil of the Peasants and Workers’ Party (PWP), supported by the NCP (SP), lost.

The 288-member legislative Assembly, with current strength of 274, was the electoral college for the council polls. Each winning candidate required 23 votes.

The BJP is the largest party in the Assembly with 103 members, followed by the Shiv Sena-38, NCP- 42, Congress-37, Shiv Sena (UBT)-15 and NCP (SP)-10.