The Maharashtra Cabinet on Thursday recommended to Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari that he nominate Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray as a member of the Legislative Council through his quota of seats, The Indian Express reported.

Thackeray will lose his post if he does not get elected as a member of one of the two Houses of the legislature by May 28. The coronavirus pandemic has forced the Election Commission to defer the polls for nine Legislative Council seats that he would have otherwise contested.

The Shiv Sena president was sworn in as the chief minister on November 28 without being a member of either House. The Constitution allows such ministers to be sworn in as long as they get elected to the legislature within six months. The six-month period ends on May 28.

The Cabinet meeting was chaired by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and was not attended by Thackeray. “Two seats from governor quota are vacant,” Minority Affairs Minister Nawab Malik said. “It is mandatory to become a member of one of the two Houses. So, the cabinet recommended Thackeray’s name to be nominated on one of the seats to avoid the constitutional crisis.”

Terms of nine MLCs will end on April 24. Out of these, two are from the Congress, three each are from the Nationalist Congress Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party, and one member is from the Shiv Sena.

Council members are elected for a six-year term. Thirty members are elected by MLAs, 22 elected from local authorities’ constituencies and seven each are elected from graduates and teachers constituencies. Apart from this, the governor also nominates 12 members.