Guv Koshyari refuses permission to hold Assembly Speaker’s election

MVA coordination committee is scheduled to meet on Wednesday to decide on a response to Koshyari’s move.

Mumbai: In a decision that may further deepen the divide between the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government and Raj Bhawan, Governor BS Koshyari has refused to give his nod to hold the election for the post of Maharashtra state legislative assembly speaker. MVA coordination committee is scheduled to meet on Wednesday to decide on a response to Koshyari’s move.

On Tuesday, the Governor’s secretariat replied to the parliamentary affairs department saying that since the matter was sub-judice, the date for the election of Speaker cannot be fixed. (Anshuman Poyrekar/HT PHOTO)

On Tuesday, the Governor’s secretariat replied to the parliamentary affairs department saying that since the matter was sub-judice, the date for the election of Speaker cannot be fixed.

In December 2021, during the winter session of the state legislature, the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA had amended the rules for the speaker to be elected by open voting instead of secret ballot. This was aimed at preventing cross-voting from its ranks. Koshyari had, however, not given a date for the elections during the winter session and said he would check the constitutional validity of these amendments. This marked a fresh flashpoint in the stormy ties between the MVA regime and Raj Bhawan.

Former minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Girish Mahajan filed a petition in the Bombay high court challenging the Maharashtra government’s 23 December notification amending rules 6 and 7 of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Rules, 1960, replacing the secret ballot method with an open voting system through a voice vote and show of hands.

However, the HC dismissed the plea and Mahajan has now moved the Supreme Court (SC). Referring to this instance, Koshyari has refused to allow the election. Significantly, the Bombay high court was in favour of the election in its order.

Anil Parab, minister for parliamentary affairs, confirmed the development and said that the government’s response to this stalemate would be discussed in a meeting of their coordination committee on Wednesday morning.

Congress legislators also met chief minister Uddhav Thackeray to urge him to hold elections sans Koshyari’s nod, but he urged restraint till the Governor gave his consent, sources said.

In the MVA’s power-sharing arrangement, Congress holds the position of the speaker, which has been vacant for over a year. Nana Patole, president, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC), was the speaker of the state legislative assembly but had stepped down in February 2021 after being appointed as the state Congress chief.

Some Congress leaders are in the mood to brazen it out and want the government to proceed with the election sans Raj Bhawan’s nod, though other voices in the party urged that much will depend on the outcome of the case in the SC.

Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) ministers too are in favour of announcing the polls only after the Governor fixes the dates for it, as otherwise, the decision may be challenged in court and the process may stand the risk of being declared null and void.

“We want the speaker’s election to be held in this session itself. The government can fix the date of the poll and only inform the governor,” Patole had told HT earlier in the day. Patole also launched a tirade against a Governor deriding him as being a ‘Bhajyapal’ or BJP man instead of a ‘Rajyapal’ or Governor.

So far, ministers have met the Governor at least twice to urge him to grant a nod to the elections. Officials from the state legislature secretariat too said that the Governor’s nod would be needed to announce the polling program as per the rules and conventions.

In Congress, the names of former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, Amin Patel, MLA from Mumbadevi in Mumbai, and Congress legislator Sangram Thopte, who represents the Bhor-Velha seat in Pune, are doing the rounds as probable for the speaker. But there are chances that a sitting minister may be dropped to accommodate Patole.