Nagpur: Even as the winter assembly session in the city is just two weeks away, the Maharashtra legislative council is without a full-time chairman for over one and half years.The post has been lying vacant ever since the tenure of NCPs Ram Raje Nimbalkarended on July 7 last year. Currently, deputy chairperson Neelam Gorhe is holding the additional charge of the legislative council chairman.The directive to conduct the chairmans polls is issued by the governor after which voting is held among the members. If the choice is unanimous among the ruling and opposition members, then no voting is held. Even the government can request the governor to appoint the chairman, Vidhan Bhavan officials said.Leader of opposition in council Ambadas Danve flayed the BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP government for inordinately delaying the appointment of a chairman. We will ask the government to fill up the post during the upcoming Nagpur session. The election process can be completed within an hour. I dont think that the court cases pose a hurdle for chairman elections, he told TOI.Taking a different view, Congress MLC Abhijit Wanjarri said that the chairmans election may not have been conducted due to an ongoing round of litigation between the two factions of Shiv Sena and NCP. I think that since there is no certainty regarding legislators of these parties, the government is adopting a wait and watch approach. It is also not known which party MLCs would support the ruling and opposition candidate, Wanjarri said.Endorsing Wanjarris view, former MLC Parinay Fuke said that the chairmans appointment could not take place due to lack of quorum, as the house currently has only 57 members against the strength of 78. Various cases related to OBC reservation are pending with the Supreme Court. The appointment cant be done till all the posts in the upper house are filled, Fuke said.BJP MLC Pravin Datke expressed confidence that the chairman would be appointed in the session in the city. There was a delay due to the slew of court cases and opposition members demanding disqualification of the current deputy speaker for switching over the sides, Datke said.BJP MLC from Akola Vasant Khandelwal said that the top post would have been filled up if Gorhe had not switched over to the Shiv Sena faction led by CM Eknath Shinde. It is my opinion that our seniors believe in Gorhe, as she is capable of handling the affairs. They also do not want to upset the coalition partner and hence, she would be continued till the end, Khandelwal said.Before NCPs Ajit Pawar faction joined the BJP-Sena government, the odds were stacked against BJP, as Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) numbers were more than the BJP-Sena. However, now the numbers are in their favour. In the 78-member upper house, the BJP is the single largest party with 22 seats, followed by Shiv Sena (UBT) and Congress with eight seats each. The Peasants Workers Party (PWP) and Rashtrawadi Samaj Party (RSP) have one seat each with four independents.

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