Congress to begin probe into MLAs' cross-voting in Maha MLC polls

Mumbai, July 15

Senior Congress leader Mohan Prakash will reach Mumbai on Saturday for a two-day probe into the alleged cross-voting by party legislators during the Maharashtra Legislative Council biennial elections held on June 20, officials said here on Friday.

He will also examine the chain of events concerning the vote of confidence by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde in which 11 Congress MLAs were absent in the special cession of the Maharashtra Legislature held on July 3-4.

A former AICC General Secretary In-Charge of Maharashtra, Prakash is well-versed with the state Congress's faction-ridden politics and is expected to submit his report to the party high command for necessary action and remedial measures next week.

For the 10 MLC seats, the Congress had fielded two candidates - Chandrakant Handore and Bhai Jagtap - with calculations in their favour given the erstwhile Maha Vikas Aghadi strength then.

In the hotly-contested polls, the first candidate Handore was trounced while Jagtap emerged the surprise winner, proving to be a huge loss of face for the party.

A prominent Dalit leader and ex-minister, Handore is the Working President of state Congress, while Jagtap is the Mumbai Congress President.

The party has taken the embarrassing debacle of its first-choice candidate (Handore) - who secured less than the allotted votes - very seriously in the MLC polls, said party officials.

Prakash is slated to meet top leaders including state Congress President Nana Patole, Handore and Jagtap, other senior leaders and legislators, jointly or individually to get to the bottom of the cross-voting mystery.

An office-bearer said the party will find out who was responsible for Handore's defeat considering the MVA's numerical strength which could have ensured victory for both Handore and Jagtap easily.

Soon after the elections, ex-CM Prithviraj Chavan and ex-Minister Naseem Khan besides Handore had demanded a probe into the cross-voting fracas, while Patole met Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and General Secretary, Organisation, K.C. Venugopal in Delhi.

Prakash will also discuss the chain of events leading to the collapse of the MVA, the "absenteeism" of the 11 Congress MLAs during CM Shinde's vote of confidence on July 4, and whether they comprised the 7 suspected of cross-voting in the MLC polls.

The absentees included MLAs Jitesh Antapurkar who was busy with his (own) wedding and Praniti Sushilkumar Shinde was abroad, besides Ashok Chavan, Vijay Wadettiwar, Dheeraj Vilasrao Deshmukh, Zeeshan Siddiqui, Shirish Chaudhary, Madhavrao Javalgaonkar, Kunal Patil, Raju Awale, and Mohan Hambarde.