All six Maharashtra RS candidates to be elected unopposed

Mumbai, March 15 (IANS) Following the last-minute withdrawal of a fourth candidate by the Bharatiya Janata Party, all six Rajya Sabha candidates from Maharashtra will be declared elected unopposed onn Thursday.

Vijaya Rahatkar, who is Chairperson of Maharshtra State Women's Commission, was the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's fourth candidate for the March 23 elections.

Political sources revealed that after it became clear the ruling ally Shiv Sena was unlikely to spare its extra 20 votes to enable Rahatkar's election, the BJP decided against taking a risk and withdrew her candidature.

The BJP had created suspense on Monday by fielding Rahatkar as the opposition Congress-Nationalist Congress Party are both running short of votes to get their candidates elected. The required number is 42, but both parties only have 41 each.

With a total of 122 MLAs plus the support of 15 others from allied parties and Independents, the BJP could get three candidates elected, but even with support from other non-BJP legislators and the possibility of transfer of extra votes from the Shiv Sena, its prospects of getting a fourth candidate elected seemed bleak.

Earlier, state Parliamentary Affairs Minister Girish Bapat announced the withdrawal of his BJP's fourth candidate, even as all other parties heaved a collective sigh of relief.

With the withdrawal of Rahatkar's candidature, there will be no need for polling and all six nominees - Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar, former Chief Minister and Maharashtra Swabhiman Party President Narayan T. Rane, and senior Kerala leader V. Muraleedharan (BJP), veteran journalist Kumar Ketkar (Congress), former Pune Mayor Vandana Chavan (NCP), Anil Desai, a close confidante of Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray (Shiv Sena) - will be declared elected unopposed. 

Chavan and Desai were sitting members in the Upper House.