Maharashtra Legislative Council
Type
Type	Upper house of the Maharashtra Legislature
Term limits	6 years
Leadership
Governor of Maharashtra	Ramesh Bais since 18 February 2023
Chairman of the House	Neelam Gorhe (Additional Charge), SHS since 7 July 2022
Deputy Chairman of the House	Neelam Gorhe, SHS since 24 June 2019
Chief Minister	Eknath Shinde, SHS since 30 June 2022
Leader of the House	Devendra Fadnavis Deputy Chief Minister, BJP since 17 August 2022
Deputy Leader of the House	Uday Samant (Acting) (Cabinet Minister), SHS since 17 August 2022
Minister of Parliamentary Affairs	Chandrakant Patil, BJP since 14 August 2022
Leader of the Opposition	Ambadas Danve, SS(UBT) since 9 August 2022
Deputy Leader of the Opposition	Bhai Jagtap, INC since 17 August 2022
General Secretary	Rajendra Bhagwat, IAS
Structure
Seats	78 (66 Elected + 12 Nominated)
Political groups	Government (36) NDA (36)   BJP (22)   NCP(AP) (6)   SHS (3)[1]   RSP (1)   IND (4) Opposition (21) MVA (21)[2]   SS(UBT) (8)   INC (8)   NCP (3)[3]   JD(U) (1)[4]   PWPI (1)[5] Vacant (21)   Vacant (21)
Meeting place
Vidhan Bhavan, Maharashtra Legislative Council, Mumbai, India Maharashtra Legislature
Website
Government of Maharashtra Maharashtra Legislative Council Website

The Maharashtra Legislative Council or Maharashtra Vidhan Parishad is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of Maharashtra state in western India.

Maharashtra Legislature Leaders

House	Leader	Portrait	Since
Maharashtra Legislative Posts
Leader Legislature BJP Party	Devendra Fadnavis		19 November 2019
Leader Legislature NCP Party	Jayant Patil		24 November 2019
Leader Legislature Congress Party	Balasaheb Thorat		19 November 2019
Leader Legislature SHS Party	Eknath Shinde		17 February 2023
Leader Legislature NCP (Ajit Pawar)	Ajit Pawar		04 July 2023
Leader Legislature SHS(UBT) Party	Ajay Choudhari		27 June 2022
Maharashtra Legislative Council Posts
Group Leader Legislature Council BJP Party	Pravin Darekar		16 December 2019
Group Leader Legislature Council SHS(UBT) Party	Anil Parab		7 July 2022
Group Leader Legislature Council NCP Party	Eknath Khadse		11 March 2023
Group Leader Legislature Council Congress Party	Satej Patil		2 March 2023
Group Leader Legislature Council JD(U) Party	Kapil Waman Patil		2 December 2019
Group Leader Legislature Council PWPI Party	Jayant Patil		2 December 2019
Group Leader Legislature Council RSP Party	Mahadev Jankar		2 December 2019

Party Group Leader & Chief Whip and Whip

Location

The seat of the Vidhan Parishad is situated at the Nariman Point area of South Mumbai in the capital Mumbai. The budget session and the monsoon session are convened in Mumbai whereas the winter session is convened in the auxiliary capital Nagpur.^[6]

Membership by party

Members of Maharashtra Legislative Council by their political party (as of 23 January 2023^[update]):

Composition of Legislative Council

Legislative Council shall consist of not less than 40 members or maximum one-third of the total number of members in the legislative assembly, chosen in the manner provided in this section.

1. 30 members shall be elected by the members of the Legislative Assembly.
2. 7 members are elected from amongst graduates from seven divisions of Maharashtra ( Mumbai, Amravati Division, Nashik Division, Aurangabad Division, Konkan Division, Nagpur Division and Pune Division)
3. 7 members are elected from amongst teachers from seven divisions of Maharashtra ( Mumbai, Amravati Division, Nashik Division, Aurangabad Division, Konkan Division, Nagpur Division and Pune Division)
4. 22 members are elected from amongst the local bodies of Maharashtra from 21 divisions of Maharashtra ( Mumbai (2 seats) and one seat each from Ahmednagar, Akola-cum-Washim-cum-Buldhana, Amravati, Aurangabad-cum-Jalna, Bhandara- Gondiya, Dhule-cum-Nandurbar, Jalgaon, Kolhapur, Nagpur, Nanded, Nashik, Osmanabad-cum-Latur-cum-Beed, Parbhani-Hingoli, Pune, Raigad-cum-Ratnagiri-cum-Sindhudurg, Sangli-cum-Satara, Solapur, Thane-cum-Palghar, Wardha-cum-Chandrapur-cum-Gadhchiroli and Yavatmal)
5. 12 members having special knowledge or practical experience in respect of matters such as literature, science, art, co-operative movement and social service shall be nominated by the Governor

It is a continuous House and not subject to dissolution. However, one-third of its members retire every second year and are replaced by new members. As such a member enjoys a tenure of six years. The members of the Vidhan Parishad elect its chairman and deputy chairman.

Constituencies and Members (78)

Following are recent members of Maharashtra Legislative Council^[7]

Elected by the Legislative Assembly members (30)

Keys:   BJP (13)   NCP (5)   INC (4)   SS(UBT) (4)   SS (2)   PWPI (1)   RSP (1)

Elected from Local Authorities' constituencies (22)

Keys:   BJP (7)   SS(UBT) (3)   INC (1)   NCP (1)   SS (1)   Vacant (9)

Elected from Teachers' constituencies (7)

Keys:   BJP (1)   NCP (1)   INC (1)   JD(U) (1)   Ind (3)

Elected from Graduates constituencies (7)

Keys:   NCP (2)   INC (2)   BJP (1)   SS(UBT) (1)   Ind (1)

Officers

Chairman

Leader of the House

The council has a Leader of the House, who heads the government caucus. The office is provided for in the Legislative Council Rules, which defines it as "Chief Minister or any other Minister appointed by Chief Minister". The Rules further mandate that the chairperson should conduct parliamentary business in consultation with the Leader.^[9]

Deputy Leader of the House

The council has a Deputy Leader of the House, who heads the government caucus. The office is provided for in the Legislative Council Rules, which defines it as "Chief Minister or any other Minister appointed by Chief Minister". The Rules further mandate that the chairperson should conduct parliamentary business in consultation with the Leader.^[10]

Leader of the Opposition