Maharashtra Assembly elections on July 6

The ruling Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi has finally decided to hold the elections for the post of Speaker of the state Assembly, which is lying vacant following resignation of Nana Patole as he was appointed the state Congress chief, on July 6, the second day of monsoon session

The ruling Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi has finally decided to hold the elections for the post of Speaker of the state Assembly, which is lying vacant following resignation of Nana Patole as he was appointed the state Congress chief, on July 6, the second day of monsoon session.

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The decision was taken by the MVA following a meeting between chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar and a meeting of coordination committee of leaders from three parties on Tuesday. Congress MLAs Sangram Thopate, Suresh Warpudkar and Amin Patel are the frontrunners.

Patole had resigned as the speaker of the lower house in the first week of February, a day ahead of his appointment as the Maharashtra Congress president. The election to the post could not take place during the two-week budget session as many ruling party MLAs were infected with Covid-19 and also because two ruling parties, barring Congress, were not very keen on it. The Congress was pushing for the election, but allies Shiv Sena and NCP were not keen because they did not want show of strength in the Assembly at a time when the situation was satisfactory and the government is occupied with the pandemic, according to MVA insiders. However, following a closed-door meeting between Thackeray and Pawar, the ruling coalition seems to have made up its mind. The state is writing to Koshyari for approval to hold the election. The Congress and Sena have issued whips to their MLAs to remain present on both the days of the session.

Thackeray held a meeting with deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar over various issues including the speaker’s election on Wednesday. The leaders reportedly discussed the reply to be sent to Governor’s letter in which he had reminded the government about holding the election.

Congress leader and revenue minister Balasaheb Thorat said the letter will soon be sent to the Raj Bhavan.

According to the NCP and Shiv Sena leaders, the issue was discussed during Thackeray-Pawar meeting. Both the parties are reportedly annoyed over the way the Congress appointed Patole without fairly discussing it with them. The top leaders felt the election to the post could put the MVA government in an embarrassing position if its numbers dwindled on the floor of the house.

Pawar had expressed his unhappiness over Patole’s resignation in February. Thackeray, too, did not want election at this juncture as the state is grappling with Covid epidemic. “Thackeray wanted to drag the issue for some more time, but agreed after the NCP chief intervened and convinced him for the polls,” said a NCP leader. “The two leaders also felt that a show of strength could be used to political advantage to show the government is stable and all its MLAs are with it,” he added.

The decision on holding the election has to be taken by the state government with the approval from the Governor. “The government informs the governor about its resolve of holding the election for the speaker’s post after which the deputy speaker announces the programme for the election once the government informs him,” said Narhari Zirwal, deputy speaker of the Assembly.

Koshyari wrote to Thackeray last week asking him to take a call on election to the post of speaker, extending the monsoon session and postponement of the local body election in the wake of pending decision over OBC reservation. “The three issues are of utmost importance and have been brought to my notice by leader of opposition Devendra Fadnavis who led a delegation of party leaders to Raj Bhavan on June 23. Take the decision on these issues and inform me accordingly,” he said in the letter dated June 24.

The BJP delegation had also demanded extension of the monsoon session which is scheduled to be held for just two days. It also demanded that the polls to the local bodies be postponed in the light of the scrapping of the OBC reservation.

This is not the first time the governor insisted on the elections. Ahead of the budget session of the state legislature in March, Koshyari had directed the legislature secretariat to conduct elections in the first week of the budget session.

Nawab Malik said, “Whips are issued by the ruling parties every time there are finance bills are supposed to be tabled. We want to hold the election for the post of speaker, but a review of the attendance of the ruling MLAs will be taken on the first day of the session. Amid the pandemic many ruling MLAs are expected to remain absent if they are infected of the virus. The decision over the election will be taken keeping this factor in the mind.”

Malik also said the governor should also take a call on the proposal of the appointment of 12 members to the legislative Council from governor’s quota. “Our leadership conveyed to Thackeray that we are very serious about holding the election in monsoon session. A detailed discussion was held during review meetings by All India Congress Committee incharge for state HK Patil recently,” said a senior Congress leader.

Malik said the NCP has no objection to hold the elections this session and they will win the election, if it happens, with more numbers than polled during confidence vote in November 2019.

Meanwhile, Congress has finalised the name of Sangram Thopate for the post. “We have only two MLAs in Pune district which has 21 seats. Pune has been our stronghold once upon a time and with both the municipal corporations in the district going to polls early next year, we need to give it a fair representation. His name has already been cleared by the party high command. Official announcement will be done on first day of the session,” said the leader.