Mumbai: The BJP has nominated Prithviraj Deshmukh, a close confidante of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, for the byelection of State Legislative Council to be held on June 7. He is expected to get elected unopposed as Congress is unlikely to contest.
Mr Deshmukh filed his nomination form on Monday in the presence of top BJP and Shiv Sena leaders like revenue minister Chandrakant Patil, industries minister Subhash Desai, minister of state for agriculture Sadabhau Khot, Neelam Gorhe, Ashish Shelar etc.
The bypoll has been necessitated due to the death of Shivajirao Deshmukh, a Congress leader from Sangli district earlier this year.
Mr Deshmukh is the president of BJP’s Sangli Rural district unit. Considered close to the chief minister, he has played a major role in the party’s rise in Sangli district in the last few years.
According to sources, the Congress is unlikely to field any nominee as the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena alliance enjoys a comfortable majority in the Legislative Assembly, whose members elect representatives to the Upper House.
In the 288-member Assembly, the BJP has 122 MLAs, the Shiv Sena 63, the Congress 42 and the NCP 41. “Whoever wins this election will be a member of the Upper House only for one year. There will be a fresh election for that seat as its tenure completes early next year,” a Vidhan Bhavan official said Monday.
Mr Deshmukh had won a bypoll to the state Legislative Assembly by defeating senior Congress leader Patangrao Kadam in 1997.
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