Elections to the nine vacant Maharashtra Legislative Council seats will be held on May 21, officials of the Election Commission of India (ECI) said on Friday.
The decision comes a day after Governor B.S. Koshyari wrote to the ECI asking that the elections be held at the earliest.
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, who did not contest the Assembly elections in 2019, has a May 27 deadline to become a member of the legislature in order to retain his post. The six-month window for him to become a member of the legislature ends on May 28.
On April 3, the ECI deferred elections to the nine vacant seats each in Maharashtra and Bihar Legislative Councils due to the lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.