Mumbai, July 3: For the upcoming elections to the Maharashtra Legislative Council, the Congress will be nominating candidates for two of the 11 seats to be contested. In the remainder, it is expected to support the non-BJP parties, including the NCP and PWP. The party on Monday named two candidates for the MLC seats: Sharad Ranpise and Mirza Athar.

Notably, the party has denied the re-nomination of Congress veteran Manikrao Thakre, the MLC from Yavatmal who is also serving as the incumbent Deputy Chairman in the Legislative Council. In his place, the party has nominated Athar.

The term of 11 outgoing MLCs will end on July 27. Apart from Thakre, the members whose current tenure is scheduled to conclude are: Sunil Tatkare, Jaidev Rao Gaikwad, Narendra Patil and Amar Singh Pandit (NCP), Vijay Girkar and Minister for Dairy Development Mahadev Jankar (BJP), Anil Parab (Shiv Sena) and Jayant Patil (PWP).

The last day of filing nominations is July 5. The candidature could be withdrawn till July 9.

Winners in the biennial elections are based upon the votes cast by the corporators, panchayat members and municipal councillors. Due to the BJP's recent string of victories in local bodies across Maharashtra, the saffron party has emerged as the single-largest entity in the State Legislative Council. The Congress-NCP combine, however, still hold the majority.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 03, 2018 10:58 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).