Rajya Sabha polls: Its math wrong, MVA slips up in battle for sixth seat in Maharashtra | Political Pulse News,The Indian Express
BJP, despite being in Opposition, cobbles together the numbers with help of smaller parties and Independents.
The ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance in Maharashtra suffered a setback as the BJP managed to win the closely contested sixth Rajya Sabha seat by mustering up the required numbers with the help of smaller parties and Independents despite being in the Opposition.
“Rajya Sabha was just a trailer. Wait and watch what we do next,” former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis said after the party’s victory.
The ruling coalition of the Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and the Congress failed to draw up an effective strategy to stop the BJP’s third candidate, Dhananjay Mahadik, from winning. According to BJP insiders, it was Fadnavis’ decision to field a third candidate and the strategy paid off.
With this victory, the BJP has managed to trump its old ally Sena, which switched sides to join hands with the Congress and the NCP after the 2019 Assembly polls. Though the BJP emerged as the single-largest party with 105 seats, it was forced to sit in the Opposition as the MVA alliance emerged. The victory, according to political observers, sends out a message that the smaller parties that seemed to be on the ruling coalition’s side are no longer happy with it.
While the Sena not only managed to get its second candidate, Sanjay Pawar, elected, its winning candidate Sanjay Raut also polled the lowest votes (41) among all the winning candidates. Sena MLA Suhas Kande’s vote being declared invalid and NCP MLAs Anil Deshmukh and Nawab Malik not being allowed to vote as they are in jail do not explain the Sena’s poor showing.
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