Mumbai, Dec 3 ( LatestNewsX ) – As the city gears up for local body elections, the Maharashtra Legislature’s winter session will run from 8 to 14 December in Nagpur.
The dates were settled on Wednesday during the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) meetings of both the state Assembly and the Council, convened at Vidhan Bhavan.
Previously the legislature had announced a longer session, from 8 to 19 December, after the monsoon session in July was adjourned.
However, the period was shortened because the second phase of Nagar Parishad and Nagar Panchayat polls is slated for 20 December, with vote counting on 21 December.
Speaker Rahul Narwekar chaired the Assembly’s BAC session, while State Council Chairman Ram Shinde presided over the upper house’s meeting.
Opposition parties – Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress and NCP (SP) – pressed hard that the winter session must last at least three weeks and that leaders of the opposition be appointed in the Assembly and Council without delay.
Shiv Sena (UBT) legislator Anil Parab said he and Congress floor leader Satej Patil had met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to demand the appointments.
“It is unconstitutional to hold winter session of the state legislature in the absence of the leaders of the opposition,” he said.
The Chief Minister assured them that the matter would be “considered positively.”
Bhaskar Jadhav, another Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA, criticised the government’s “dilly‑dallying” over the appointments, arguing that ministers are wary of the opposition’s barrage of questions.
“They (ministers) are not brave enough to face the opposition’s barrage of questions,” he claimed, blasting the government for “curtailing” the session and insisting it should have spanned three weeks.
Parab linked the brief session to the looming Municipal Corporation elections in Mumbai, Pune, Nashik and other major cities, suggesting that the government prefers not to address issues comprehensively before the polls.
“A one‑week session is not enough to raise all of Maharashtra’s issues. We only hope that at least Vidarbha’s core issues can be addressed since the session is in Nagpur,” he added.
Jadhav further argued that the government is “not prepared to extend the session” even with a large majority, as it lacks answers to the flood of opposition questions.
He launched a scathing attack on the State Election Commission (SEC) for its alleged inaction regarding pre‑election financial schemes.
“The current State Election Commission seems to be blind, mute, and deaf and working for a political party. Previously, the SEC used to immediately stay financial schemes announced just before elections. But this commission is watching with open eyes while government money is being distributed to buy people’s votes,” he said.
In response, BJP MLA Ram Kadam dismissed the opposition’s critique of the session length.
“These are the same people who used to wrap up the session in two or three days when they were in power. They are now teaching us how long a session should be,” he retorted.
“These frustrated people need medical treatment,” he added.
Kadam affirmed that the Chief Minister and both Deputy Chief Ministers, Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar, were fully prepared to answer all opposition queries, stressing that the BJP does not operate on election schedules – that is the purview of the State Election Commission.
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