One-third of the Legislative Council is vacant, with an additional five seats to be added to the current 22 seats next week.

In Mumbai, there are currently 22 vacant Legislative Council seats, with an additional five seats set to become vacant next week. It appears unlikely that these 27 seats, which include 15 local body constituencies, will be filled soon due to the postponement of Governor-appointed seats and municipal elections.

The Maharashtra Legislative Council, with a total of 78 members, has had 12 Governor-appointed seats vacant for the past four years. Furthermore, 15 seats representing local authority constituencies are becoming vacant as a result of long-overdue Municipal Corporation, Municipality, and Zilla Parishad elections. With 22 current vacancies and five more impending, one-third of the Council's seats will be unoccupied.

The Speaker's position has been vacant for two years, with Deputy Speaker Neelam Gorhe overseeing the House during this period. Of the 78 Legislative Council seats, 30 are elected by Legislative Assembly members, 14 are from local authority constituencies, seven each are designated for graduates and teachers, and the remaining 12 are appointed by the Governor.

Currently, all 12 Governor-appointed seats are unfilled. Fifteen out of the 22 seats in the local authority body, chosen by corporators, will soon be vacant. These seats are unlikely to be filled until municipal or municipal elections are conducted, possibly in 2025 after the assembly elections. The Vidhan Parishad is a continuous house that cannot be dissolved like the Legislative Assembly.

While the Parliament can dissolve the Legislative Council upon the State Assembly's resolution, the current legal complexities make it challenging to fill the 27 vacant seats. Nonetheless, leaving seats vacant for extended periods is not deemed advisable.