The Congress on Saturday settledfor one instead of two nominees for the May 21 elections for nine seats of the Maharashtra Legislative Council, paving the way for the unopposed entry of the candidates, including Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, to the Upper House.According to sources in the Congress, the party has selected Rajesh Rathod, a member of Jalna Zilla Parishad, as its nominee.Earlier the Congress had announced that it will field two candidates but now has settled for one thus paving the way for unopposed election of Thackeray to the Upper House.The nine seats fell vacant on April 24 after terms of the sitting MLCs came to end.The ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA)--comprising the Shiv Sena, the NCP and the Congress--has so far announced the names of five candidates, including Rathod.The opposition BJP on Friday announced names of four nominees.Thackeray, who is not a member of either Houses of the state legislature, and incumbent deputy Chairperson of the Legislative Council Neelam Gorhe are the nominees of the Sena while Shashikant Shinde and Amol Mitkari are the candidates of the NCP.Former NCP MP Ranjitsinh Mohite Patil, Gopichand Padalkar, Praveen Datke and Ajit Gopchhade are the nominees of the BJP, which has the highest 105 MLAs in the 288-member Legislative Assembly.The BJP nominees have already filed their nominations on Friday.The five MVA nominees, including CM Thackeray, will file their papers on May 11, which is the last date for filingthe nominations.MLAs form the electoral college for the biennial elections to the Legislative Councils.
