Mumbai: While Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has expressed his determination that NDA candidate Draupadi Murmu will get 200 MLA votes in the presidential elections, and since Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has done wonders in the Rajya Sabha and Legislative Council elections, there is great curiosity about whether the votes of the opposition will split in tomorrow's elections.
Even when Rahul Narvekar was elected as the Assembly Speaker and the Shinde government won the confidence vote, 164 votes were polled. Laxman Jagtap and Mukta Tilak, two BJP MLAs, could not come to vote. Narvekar will now have the right to vote. This means that the BJP-Shinde group now has 167 members. There is no possibility of Jagtap, Tilak coming to the polls. This means that 165 will be the numerical strength. To reach the figure of 200, 35 votes will be required. This number will go up to 180 as Shiv Sena's Uddhav Thackeray faction announced its support to Murmu. Another 20 MLAs will need votes to reach the magic number of 200.
BJP-Shinde's strategy may be to win the votes of some MLAs of Congress and NCP. Seven MLAs of Congress were divided in the Legislative Council. The question is what will happen tomorrow when action is pending against these seven MLAs. Presidential elections also have a secret ballot. The ruling party will focus on breaking the votes of the opposition by taking advantage of it. NCP has 53 MLAs in the Legislative Assembly. Two former NCP ministers Anil Deshmukh and Nawab Malik will not be able to vote as they are in jail. Congress has 44 MLAs. Voting will be held in Vidhan Bhavan from 10 am to 5 pm on Monday. Members of Legislative Assembly, MPs of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha are also voters in this election.
Amit Agarwal, the Election Inspector appointed by the Central Election Commission and Additional Secretary to the Central Government, visited and inspected the polling station set up at the Central Hall of the Vidhan Bhavan on Sunday. He also visited the strong room. At the same time, he discussed with all the concerned officials and took information about the preparations. State Chief Electoral Officer Shrikant Deshpande, Principal Secretary of Legislature and Assistant Election Returning Officer for Presidential Election 2022 Rajendra Bhagwat and other officials were present on this occasion.