India, June 8 -- The ongoing elections for 17 seats to the state legislative council is turning out to be nothing less than a soap opera. While questions are being raised over the use of power as well as shifting loyalties, it has also shown the current scattered state of the opposition coalition, the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA).

In eight of the 17 constituencies, the MVA candidates withdrew from the fray ensuring unopposed elections for Mahayuti candidates. In some cases like in Pune, Nashik and Thane constituencies, the opposition parties withdrew their candidates while in other constituencies the candidates themselves backed out, without even informing their parties.

In Thane, local leaders of Sena (UBT) and Congress were trying t...