Relief for Uddhav Thackeray as EC agrees to hold council polls in Maharashtra on May 21

New Delhi, May 01: In a major relief for chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, the Election Commission on Friday decided to hold polls for the nine vacant seats in the Maharashtra Legislative Council, the upper house of the state on May 21 in Mumbai.

Maharashtra Governor B S Koshyari had on Thursday requested the Election Commission on Thursday to declare polls for nine vacant seats to the state Legislative Council.

Polls are due to be held for nine council seats. These elections would give Maharashtra Chief Minster, Uddhav Thackeray an opportunity to get elected to the council. His six month deadline of being elected to the council ends on May 27.

A minimum 21 day period is required between the announcement and the date of elections.

The decision of the EC to deliberate on the subject was taken after requests from the Shiv Sena and NCP to hold the elections.

Earlier the two parties had requested the Governor to nominate Thackeray, but he remained noncommittal.

Thackeray then called Prime Minister, Narendra Modi and appraised him about the situation. Following this the Governor called on the Election Commission and sought that the polls be held.