It is not that the Maharashtra government could not have done this work earlier. The names of the nominated Legislative Councilors i.e. MLCs of the Governor’s quota could have been decided several days in advance and their oath could also have been taken. But the Maharashtra government waited for the MLCs to be decided on the day the Election Commission announces the polling date in the state and they will be sworn in on the same day. The Maharashtra government could have sent the names of MLCs to all the 12 seats at once and got them sworn in, but it sent only seven names and got seven people sworn in after being nominated. This matter is pending in the High Court. Despite that, seven people were sworn in. Now the question is why did the BJP supported Eknath Shinde government send only seven names and why did it choose that too on the last day? No outsider can answer this.
By taking oath on the last day, the message could be that BJP and its allies have shown that they were not aware of the Election Commission’s programme. They knew that questions would be raised on the dates that would be announced, hence this drama was created. But why only seven, when 12 posts were vacant? Keep in mind that these posts were vacant since 2020. In 2020, the then Uddhav Thackeray government had sent 12 names for this, which the then Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari left hanging.
This is a classical case of abuse of office of the Governor. Later, when Eknath Shinde’s government was formed, it withdrew all these names. But he also did not send the names again in two and a half years. On the last day, seven names were sent, in which three were from BJP and two each from Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar’s party. What has BJP thought about the remaining five vacant seats? Does he know that if he needs a new ally to form his government, some of his seats will be given to him or even if someone else forms the government by mistake, the Governor will block his recommendations?