The big question this week in Maharashtra is whether there is a new political equation emerging in the state between the BJP and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray over the upcoming Maharashtra Legislative Council (MLC) polls. Many say both sides of the political divide are of the view that this process should be made unopposed, similar to the recent Rajya Sabha elections for six seats, which saw cooperation between the ruling and opposition sides in the state legislature. There are nine seats of the State Legislative Council for which nominations will be filed in the first week of May, and in case more than nine nominations come, voting will happen on May 12 at Vidhan Bhavan in Mumbai.

Speculation over unopposed polls

The buzz in regional media and among party activists is that there have been some negotiations between the Shiv Sena (UBT) and the BJP to make this an unopposed poll process so that there are only nine nominations and every candidate is declared elected unopposed. But have such talks really happened? Will the election to the MLC seats happen unopposed? If the answers to these questions are positive, it would certainly kick-start a new phase of cooperation between former alliance partners, the Shiv Sena (UBT) and the BJP, who have been at loggerheads since 2019.

Seat arithmetic and party strategies

The ruling BJP-led Mahayuti and the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi are keenly contesting the MLC elections with all........

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