Coronavirus outbreak: Thackeray’s election to House may get delayed

swapnil.rawal@hindustantimes.com

swapnil.rawal@hindustantimes.com

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The coronavirus outbreak in the state could delay chief minister Uddhav Thackeray’s election to the legislature. Thackeray, who took oath as the chief minister in November last year, has to get elected to either House of the state legislature by the end of May to remain in office.

The Shiv Sena was planning to get Thackeray elected to the legislative Council, when nine MLC seats were due to be vacated on April 24. But the Election Commission of India (ECI) has not announced the date for the legislative Council polls in the state, which can put Maharashtra in a tricky situation.

According to Article 164 (4) of the Constitution, “a minister, who for any period of six consecutive months, is not a member of the legislature shall at the expiration of that period cease to be a minister”. The six-month period in Thackeray’s case will end on May 28.

With Thackeray spearheading the state’s measures to combat the outbreak, Sena insiders said the party has not yet strategised for the Sena chief to fulfill the constitutional requirement. Thackeray has earlier hinted that he would take the MLC route to fulfil the requirement. If Thackeray is not elected to either house, he would have to resign as the chief minister amid the public health crisis in the state.

Rajya Sabha MP and Shiv Sena party secretary Anil Desai said that there is “status quo” on all elections by the ECI. “Now all elections are deferred by the Election Commission so it is status quo,” Desai said. When asked what is Sena’s strategy as Thackeray may have to resign if he does not fulfil the requirement, Desai said, “Technically it is true (about resigning), but the deferment was announced by the EC. It must have taken into account all such cases. If the requirements are to be fulfilled, the EC would have to take appropriate steps. Internal discussions are yet to happen, as dealing with Covid-19 situation is a priority.”

Anant Kalse, former principal secretary of the state legislature, said this is an unprecedented situation. “As per the Constitution, if he fails to become a member of either of the House, he will have to resign. He can take the oath again. Of course, it is not permissible in the Constitution, but the Supreme Court may allow him as these are exceptional circumstances,” Kalse said. He added that Thackeray can get elected through Governor’s nomination, but “it is not a convention”.

In the past, two Congress leaders, Sushilkumar Shinde and Prithviraj Chavan, became chief ministers while not being a member of either house of the state legislature. However, both were elected within six months to continue in office.

Considering the bitter political fight between the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after the state polls in October 2019, the latter would grab every opportunity to pull down the three-party Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government. “There would not be any political crisis in Maharashtra, we are certain of that a foolproof solution would be found,” said a Sena leader requesting anonymity.