Congress, NCP meet to discuss council polls

Mumbai: Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leaders met to discuss the council polls for 21 seats, which are to be held in June and July. Both parties had decided to avoid the vote division in all future elections. The first test of this alliance will be the council polls as well as the Lok Sabha bypolls. As of now, the Opposition parties have decided to contest the elections in an alliance.

Thursday’s was second meeting between leaders of both parties at the state level. “We have exchanged views on an alliance in the council polls. I don’t see any hurdles in forming an alliance. It was a preliminary talk. We will now send the NCP’s proposal to the high command. Once the clearance comes from Delhi, we will meet again and discuss the matter in detail,” said Maharashtra Congress chief Ashok Chavan. 

NCP state chief Sunil Tatkare also said the party would also need to look over the details with NCP chief Sharad Pawar. “We have decided to avoid the division of secular votes. Though elections for these seats are not declared, we will complete the process as soon as possible,” said Mr Tatkare. 

Twenty-one council seats will be vacated by this July. As of now, the NCP has the largest number of MLCs in the House, while Congress comes second in this regard. As the BJP is trying to establish its majority in the Upper House, a keenly-fought contest is expected.