Uddhav won't be reinstated, Guv erred in calling floor test: Supreme Court
The Supreme Court said the floor test was not legal but Uddhav resigned before and so can't be reinstated.
The Supreme Court on Thursday said Uddhav Thackeray can not be reinstated as the Maharashtra chief minister because he resigned from the post but the floor test which in the case of Maharashtra toppled the Uddhav Thackeray-led government was not legal either. The Governor, BS Koshyari, erred as he concluded that Uddhav lost the majority in the House, the Supreme Court said in a crucial judgment. Floor test can not be used as a medium to resolve inter- or intra-party disputes, the Supreme Court observed.
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The Supreme Court observed that Devendra Fadnavis and the independent MLAs did not move a no-confidence motion and the governor's "exercise of discretion was not in accordance of the law".
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The top court said it could have reinstated Uddhav as the chief minister has he not resigned. "neither the Constitution nor the law empower the governor to enter the political arena and play a role either in inter-party or intra-party disputes," the Supreme Court observed. The Supreme Court also held that the Speaker's decision to aapoint Shinde group-backed gogowale as the whip of the Shiv Sena party was illegal. "Nothing in any of the communications relied on by the Governor indicated that the dissatisfied MLAs wanted to withdraw support to the Government," the order said.
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"Even if it is assumed that the MLAs wanted to exit the govt, they constituted only a faction," CJI DY Chandrachud said.
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The Supreme Court said the Speaker and the Election Commission are to decide who is the real Shiv Sena. The question of disqualification will also be decided by the Speaker.