Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray, eight others elected unopposed to Council

Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and eight others were declared elected unopposed to the state Legislative Council on Thursday.

Apart from Thackeray, Council Deputy Chairperson Neelam Gorhe (Shiv Sena), four candidates of BJP - Ranjitsinh Mohite Patil, Gopichand Padalkar, Praveen Datke and Ramesh Karad; NCP's Shashikant Shinde and Amol Mitkari and Congress's Rajesh Rathod were in the fray for the nine seats, which fell vacant on April 24.

"All of them were elected unopposed," an official said. Uddhav Thackeray

"The result was officially announced on Thursday after the deadline for withdrawal of nominations ended at 3 pm," the official said.

The 288-member legislative assembly was the electoral college for the biennial elections to the nine seats.

With this election, 59-year-old Thackeray, who is also the president of Shiv Sena, makes his debut as a legislator.

He was sworn in as chief minister on November 28 last year and required to become a member of either house of the legislature before May 27.