Mumbai, Feb. 26 -- With the numbers in the Maharashtra assembly to elect four candidates to the Rajya Sabha, the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP's) state core committee has recommended more than a dozen names to the party's central leadership, according to leaders aware of the developments. Among those recommended are Union minister Ramdas Athawale, BJP national general secretary Vinod Tawde, former Union minister Raosaheb Danve, National Commission for Women chairperson Vijaya Rahatkar, and outgoing MP Dharyasheel Patil. The state core committee, comprising chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, state unit chief Ravindra Chavan, revenue minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule and other senior leaders, met on Wednesday to finalise the names to be forwarded to the party's central election committee, party insiders said. The 15-member committee, which includes BJP national president Nitin Nabin, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah and other senior leaders, along with Fadnavis, will take the final call on the Rajya Sabha nominees. The committee is not bound to accept the state unit's recommendations. According to state BJP leaders, the party is expected to renominate Athawale. It is also likely to consider former Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai for a Rajya Sabha berth from Maharashtra. "But that name may directly come from the Centre if it has to happen," said a BJP leader, requesting anonymity. Of the seven Rajya Sabha seats from Maharashtra that are due for election by members of the state assembly, the BJP is in a position to win four, based on its strength of 136 MLAs, including independents and members of smaller parties backing it. With the assembly's current strength at 286, the quota required to win each seat is 36 votes. The BJP, however, falls short by around eight votes for its fourth seat and may rely on support from its ally Shiv Sena, which has 57 MLAs. The Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party, with 40 MLAs, are each in a position to secure one seat. The opposition Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA), with a combined strength of 46 MLAs, can field only one candidate. "Since the Rajya Sabha nominees are elected in an open ballot system, there is no point in fielding one more Mahayuti candidate expecting cross-voting by the opposition MLAs. Secondly, on the basis of the strength from both sides, the number of seats possible to be won has no ambiguity. As such, there is no point in taking a chance of an additional seat in such a scenario," said a senior BJP minister. The minister recalled that in July 2022, the BJP had managed to win an additional sixth Rajya Sabha seat despite lacking the requisite numbers, allegedly due to cross-voting by some opposition MLAs in the second round of voting. That election is widely seen as having triggered the split in the Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray, which unfolded within days of the Rajya Sabha polls. In that contest, BJP's Dhananjay Mahadik had defeated Shiv Sena's Sanjay Pawar. While Pawar secured 33 votes in the first round and Mahadik 27, the BJP leader ultimately benefited from second-preference votes, including support from 14 MLAs from the MVA camp, which resulted in his victory. "This time, in the given scenario, the second preferential votes hardly matter," the BJP minister said....