Mumbai, Correspondent

The oath-taking ceremony of 16 newly elected Members of Legislative Council was held in the Legislative Council (Vidhan Parishad) Hall here today.

Sharad Pawar-led NCP Lok Sabha MP Supriya Sule's son-in-law Arun Lakhani was among those who took their oaths. Supriya Sule's daughter Revati Sule was also present at the Legislative Council Hall.

The 16 MLCs sworn in to Legislative Council include Vikram Kakade, Aniket Tatkare, Dhairyasheel Kadam, Gokul Gite, Rajiv Potdar, Basavaraj Patil, Arun Lakhani, Amar Rajurkar, Avinash Brahmankar, Dushyant Chaturvedi, Nandkishore Mahajan, Praveen Pote, Suhas Shirsath, Ravindra Phatak, Rajendra Raut and Prajakta Tanpure.
Vikram Kakade is from Pune, Rajendra Raut is from Solapur, Aniket Tatkare is from Ratnagiri and Dhairyasheel Kadam is from Satara. Some MLCs who were elected during the previous Legislative Council elections were also administered the oath of office here today.

The results of the local body legislative council elections in the state were announced here on Monday, June 22, and the ruling BJP-led Mahayuti won a resounding victory by winning 10 out of 11 seats, though Mahayuti (Shinde-led Sena) candidate Narendra Darade was defeated in Nashik.

However, Gokul Geete, who won from Nashik, met Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Monday evening, after his victory and joined the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, thus becoming part of the ruling BJP-led Mahayuti alliance.
The BJP has significantly strengthened its position in the Maharashtra Legislative Council after the latest round of elections, moving closer to a standalone majority in the upper house of the state legislature.

Presently, the BJP holds 35 seats in the 73-member Legislative Council (Vidhan Parishad), making it the single largest political force in the house and giving the ruling Mahayuti alliance a stronger hold in legislative proceedings.
The latest results have further consolidated the position of the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance at a time when the Opposition is grappling with internal differences over the post of Leader of the Opposition (LoP).

The party may receive another opportunity to strengthen its numbers later this year when biennial elections are held for five Graduate and Teachers' constituencies.

If the BJP wins at least three of the five seats, its strength in the Legislative Council would cross the 40-seat mark, giving it a standalone majority without relying on alliance partners.

Such an outcome would further strengthen the BJP's ability to push legislation through the upper house and reduce its dependence on coalition negotiations.

Significantly, the BJP already holds one of the most important positions in the Legislative Council through Chairman Ram Shinde.

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