Polling commences for biennial Council elections

Mumbai, June 1 (UNI) Polling commenced here this morning to elect eleven members of the Maharashtra Legislative Council in the biennial elections for which 289 members of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly are eligible to exercise their franchise.

Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil and Mr Chaagan Bhujbal were among the first to cast their votes.

In all, 13 candidates are in fray for the 11 seats. They include Ulhas Pawar, Govindrao Adik, S Q Zama and Rajan Teli (Congress), Arun Gujarathi, Usha Darade and Vasant Oswal (NCP), Pasha Patel and Keshavrao Mankar (BJP), Parshuram Uparkar and Vijay Loke (Shiv Sena), Jayant Patil (PWP), and Preetam Shegaonkar (RPI-supported by NCP). Of these, Mr Pawar, Mr Adik and Mr Jayant Patil are retiring members who are seeking re-election.

The electoral college for the elections comprises the 289-member Legislative Assembly which has 73 Congress members, 71 NCP members, 58 from Shiv Sena, 54 from BJP, 2 from PWP, three from CPM, four from JSS, while BBM, RPI, Swatantra Bharat Party and ABS have one member each. There are 19 independents and one nominated member.

The counting will be taken up after 1600 hrs.

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