Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut files nomination for Rajya Sabha polls

MUMBAI: Senior Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut today filed his nomination from Maharashtra for the Rajya Sabha election slated for June 11.

Also, senior Sena leaders and ministers in Maharashtra government Subhash Desai and Diwakar Raote filed their nominations for the state Legislative Council elections of June 10.

In Maharashtra, six RS seats are up for grabs while there are 10 vacancies in the Legislative Council.

Besides Raut and Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal (who filed his nomination on May 24), the Rajya Sabha MPs from Maharashtra whose term is expiring are Ishwarlal Jain and Praful Patel (both NCP), Vijay Darda and Avinash Pande (both Congress).

As per the arithmetic, BJP and Shiv Sena can wrest at least one seat each from Congress and NCP given the present strength in the Legislative Assembly. The number of votes required to win election by a candidate is 42.

Sena has 63 MLAs, BJP 122, Congress 42 and NCP 41.