Prithviraj Chavan to contest bye-election on May 4

Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan will be contesting the bye-election for a legislative council seat in Maharashtra on May 4.

Congress President Sonia Gandhi today approved his candidature for the seat, paving the way for him to get elected to the legislature as per constitutional requirements.

At present, he is not a member of either of the two houses of the state legislature.

The seat fell vacant after Sanjay Dutt of the Congress resigned on March 11 to facilitate Chavan's election. Dutt's term was to expire on July 7, 2016.

Chavan took over as the chief minister November 11 last year replacing Ashok Chavan, who resigned over the Adarsh Housing Society scam. He is required to get elected to either of the two houses within six months of assuming office.

The Election Commission had announced the date for the bye-election after the Bombay high court gave the go-ahead for it on April 13. The EC had earlier announced May 5 as the date for election.

However, it was later advanced to May 4 in view of the EC deputing the chief electoral officer of Maharashtra as its special observer for the West Bengal assembly polls.

The EC had to seek the court's permission to hold the bye-election for the seat as former Shiv Sena MLC Anil Parab had in January challenged the June 2010 Legislative Council elections in which four MNS MLAs were allowed to vote despite being under suspension. Dutt was one of the victorious candidates.