Maharashtra Cabinet recommends Uddhav Thackeray's name as MLC from Guv quota

MUMBAI: The Maharashtra cabinet on Thursday said it will urge Governor BG Koshyari to recommend Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s name as a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council (MLC) from the Governor’s quota of nominated members.

Thackeray is not a member of either of the two houses of the state legislature. The Constitution requires a minister or a chief minister who is not a member of either of the houses to be elected to either of the houses within six months of being sworn in to the post, failing which the person must resign. Thackeray was sworn in as chief minister on November 28, 2019 and finishes six months in office on May 28, 2020.

The chief minister was to contest the biennial MLC election from one of the nine seats that have fallen vacant, but it was called off along with polls for 18 Rajya Sabha seats because of the coronavirus pandemic. Maharashtra has 1,297 Covid-19 patients, the highest among states.


The move to recommend his name was announced by state minority development minister Nawab Malik at a meeting chaired by deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar. “We have done this to avert a constitutional crisis and, hence, we have decided that Uddhav’s name be recommended from the Governor’s quota,” Malik said, adding that Thackeray was asked not to attend the meeting as his name was to be recommended.

Two of the MLC seats in the legislative council under the Governor’s quota are currently vacant.