Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis with the BJP candidates as they file their nominations for the Maharashtra Legislative Council elections, in Mumbai. Party’s candidates include Sunil Vinayak Karjatkar, Madhavi Naik, Sanjay Natthuji Bhende, Vivek Bipindada Kolhe and Pramod Shantaram Jathar. File
| Photo Credit: PTI
A day after the tenure of nine sitting MLCs ended on May 13, ten newly elected members of the Maharashtra Legislative Council (MLC), including six from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), took their oaths on Thursday (May 14, 2026) at the Vidhan Bhavan in Mumbai.
The list of newly elected members includes two members of Eknath Shinde-led Neelam Gorhe and Bachchu Kadu of the Prahar Janshakti Party; Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena’s Ambadas Danve; Sunetra Pawar-led NCP’s Zeeshan Siddique; and six MLCs from the BJP: Pragya Satav, Pramod Jathar, Madhavi Naik, Sunil Karjatkar, Vivek Kolhe and Sanjay Bhende.
Nine MLCs won unopposed, while Pragya Satav was elected in a by-election after she resigned as Congress MLC and joined the BJP. During the ceremony, the Legislative Council chairperson Ram Shinde administered the oath to the 10 members.
The 78-member Upper House currently has 22 vacancies, of which 17 are of the local self-government bodies, and five are Governor-nominated seats.
During the oath-taking ceremony, Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, and Deputy Chief Ministers Eknath Shinde and Sunetra Ajit were present.
The nine MLCs whose term ended were BJP MLCs Sanjay Kenekar, Sandeep Joshi, Ranjitsinh Mohite-Patil, and Dadarao Yadavrao Keche; Shiv Sena MLC Neelam Gorhe; Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray; NCP MLC Amol Mitkari; NCP (SP) Shashikant Shinde; and Congress MLC Rajesh Rathod.
Currently, the BJP has 131 members in the Legislative Assembly, Shiv Sena (Shinde group) has 57, and NCP (Ajit Pawar group) has 40. In the opposition, Shiv Sena (Thackeray group) has 20 members, Congress has 16 and NCP (Sharad Pawar group) has 10 members. Since the BJP holds the largest number of MLAs, they dominated the most MLC seats through the indirect election process called ‘Single Transferable Vote’ (STV), a proportional representation system where MLAs vote to elect MLCs.
Published – May 14, 2026 12:44 pm IST
