The Bombay High Court on Thursday ruled against a petition challenging the withdrawal of 12 Maharashtra Legislative Council (MLC) nominees, a decision made by the previous Eknath Shinde-led government. The nominees were originally selected by the prior Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government under Uddhav Thackeray.
The petition, filed by Shiv Sena (UBT) functionary and former corporator Sunil Modi, was dismissed by a division bench consisting of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Amit Borkar. The court described the petition as misconceived and not meriting judicial intervention.
This legal challenge stemmed from a political reshuffle following the collapse of the MVA government in 2022, when Eknath Shinde assumed the role of Chief Minister. The new cabinet promptly informed the Maharashtra governor of its decision to withdraw the list of 12 nominees forwarded by the Thackeray administration, leading to the governor’s acceptance of this decision on September 5, 2022.
In response to the vacancies left by the withdrawal, October 2024 saw the appointment of seven MLCs under the governor’s quota. The distribution of these seats reflected the current political alignment, with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) securing three seats. Its allies, the reconfigured Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), received two seats each.
The BJP’s nominees include Chitra Wagh, head of the party’s Maharashtra women’s wing, state general secretary Vikrant Patil, and spiritual leader Dharmaguru Babusingh Maharaj Rathod of the Banjara community. The NCP’s appointees are former MLA Pankaj Bhujbal and minority representative Idris Naikwadi. The Shiv Sena chose Manisha Kayande and former Lok Sabha member Hemant Patil for their seats.
