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What next? Maharashtra to get new government. All you need to know
The floor test will not happen as Thackeray has resigned as chief minister and the leader of the ruling party in the assembly
Uddhav Thackeray resigned as the Maharashtra chief minister on Wednesday after the Supreme Court refused to stall a floor test in which governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari asked the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi to prove its majority. His coalition government -- also comprising the National Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress -- was set to lose the test as the numbers were stacked against it following a rebellion by 39 Shiv Sena lawmakers even as disqualification proceedings are pending against 16 of them.
The rebels earlier moved for deputy speaker Narhari Zirwal’s removal, and the court has given them protection till July 11 from the disqualification proceedings pending before him. While allowing the floor test on Wednesday, the court did say that it would be subject to the proceedings, if and when they are carried out.
Here is all you need to know about what is next in the state as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Devendra Fadnavis and the Sena rebels led by Eknath Shinde are set to stake their claim to form the next government:
-- The floor test will not happen as Thackeray has resigned as chief minister and the leader of the ruling party in the assembly. The Supreme Court order on Wednesday was premised on the governor’s letter to Thackeray to prove his majority, but since the Shiv Sena leader chose to resign, a floor test will not be required.
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-- Fadnavis will have to stake claim to form the government by submitting a letter of support to the governor, showing his majority in the House. The party which has a largest number of members and stakes its claim to form is given the opportunity to form the government but Fadnavis may also be called to prove the majority in the House if the Thackeray camp seeks a trust vote, and the Speaker agrees to the request.
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-- If Sena defectors are stake claim to the party and the party symbol, they will have to approach the Election Commission of India (ECI), which will have to decide the dispute under paragraph 15 of the Symbols Order.
READ | Shinde says portfolio talks with BJP soon, everything else rumours
-- Thackeray can do little legally or legislatively after he has resigned. His resignation also renders the proceedings in the Supreme Court an academic exercise insofar as the correctness of Koshyari’s decision is concerned. The Supreme Court may, however, still opt to settle a point of law as to whether presiding officers can go ahead with the disqualification proceedings when their own removal has been sought, and if a floor test may be ordered in the meantime.
