Mumbai: Voting for the biennial elections for 11 seats of the Maharashtra Legislative Council began on Friday morning at the Vidhan Bhawan complex here.
The first person to cast his vote through the secret ballot system was Shiv Sena's Sanjay Gaikwad.
There are 12 candidates in the fray for 11 seats. Voting is scheduled to take place from 9 am to 4 pm, although Shiv Sena (UBT) has demanded that it be extended by an hour due to heavy rains in Mumbai.
The 288-member Legislative Assembly is the electoral college for the elections and its current strength is 274.
Each winning candidate will need a quota of 23 first-preference votes.
Eleven members of the upper house of the state legislature are retiring on July 27 and these important elections are being held to fill the vacancies.
The BJP has fielded five candidates, while its grand alliance partners Shiv Sena and NCP have nominated two candidates each.
Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) have fielded one candidate each, while their Maha Vikas Aghadi ally NCP (SP) is supporting the Peasants and Workers Party (PWP) candidate.
The MVA does not have the numbers to get a third candidate elected, but it is counting on some MLAs from the NCP and Shiv Sena, both alliance partners of the Mahayuti, to cross-vote in its favour.
Over the past few days, the NCP (SP) has claimed that some MLAs from the rival camp led by Ajit Pawar are in touch with the opposition party for a possible comeback following the MVA's impressive performance in the Lok Sabha elections.
The first person to cast his vote through the secret ballot system was Shiv Sena's Sanjay Gaikwad.
There are 12 candidates in the fray for 11 seats. Voting is scheduled to take place from 9 am to 4 pm, although Shiv Sena (UBT) has demanded that it be extended by an hour due to heavy rains in Mumbai.
The 288-member Legislative Assembly is the electoral college for the elections and its current strength is 274.
Each winning candidate will need a quota of 23 first-preference votes.
Eleven members of the upper house of the state legislature are retiring on July 27 and these important elections are being held to fill the vacancies.
The BJP has fielded five candidates, while its grand alliance partners Shiv Sena and NCP have nominated two candidates each.
Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) have fielded one candidate each, while their Maha Vikas Aghadi ally NCP (SP) is supporting the Peasants and Workers Party (PWP) candidate.
The MVA does not have the numbers to get a third candidate elected, but it is counting on some MLAs from the NCP and Shiv Sena, both alliance partners of the Mahayuti, to cross-vote in its favour.
Over the past few days, the NCP (SP) has claimed that some MLAs from the rival camp led by Ajit Pawar are in touch with the opposition party for a possible comeback following the MVA's impressive performance in the Lok Sabha elections.