INDIA. Mumbai: Although the Supreme Court verdict on the Shiv Sena crisis in Maharashtra is awaited, in anticipation of the probable disqualification of 16 Shiv Sena MLAs led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, manoeuvrings have begun with BJP exploring whether it could form the government with the NCP support.
The Supreme Court judgement of the Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud is expected next month.
As per the Anti-Defection Act 1985 (amended in 2003), in case of a split in the party, at least two-thirds of the members of a party have to “merge” with another party. The Act does not recognise a “split” in a legislature party.
Considering the strength of 56 of the Shiv Sena before the split, two-thirds of MLAs should have defected and merged with another party. However, the Shinde faction violated the rule when it defected on June 20, 2022. Shinde and 15 rebel MLAs were served the disqualification notices under Rule 6 of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly (Disqualification on Ground of Defection) Rules, 1986 (“Disqualification Rules”) read with the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution by the then Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal on June 26.
Thus prima facie Shinde faction comes under the Anti-Faction Act. Similarly, the future of the remaining 24 MLAs who subsequently joined Shinde in a piecemeal fashion in Guwahati is also certain.
As per the regulations, the SC has to communicate its decision to the Assembly Speaker for appropriate decision. The Assembly Speaker Rahul Narvekar can decide this matter.
Anyone who is disqualified under the 10th Schedule is automatically disqualified from being appointed a minister both at the state and Central levels.
In case 16 MLAs are disqualified, the strength of the Maharashtra Assembly will come down to 272(288-16=272). If all the 40 MLAs are disqualified, then the strength of the Assembly will come down to 248. But this probability is remote. Yet the ruling BJP, which has a wafer-thin majority of 105, will have to seek the support of outside MLAs by engineering defections to prove its majority(which is half of the strength of the House plus one more seat).
At present, the BJP-backed NDA has the strength of 162 MLAs, including 12 Independent MLAs. At the same time, the Opposition led by Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has the strength of 121 MLAs. Five MLAs are unallied. Under the circumstances, the BJP is left with no choice but to manage to engineer the defection of two-thirds of the 53 NCP MLAs by offering them heavy allurements.
According to sources, NCP leader and Opposition leader Ajit Pawar is being wooed with an offer of chief ministership by the BJP. That is the reason NCP Chief Sharad Pawar took wind of the Opposition’s shield by dismissing the idea of a probe by a Joint Parliamentary Committee into the Hindenburg-Gautam Adani row and suggested that an inquiry by a judge would be a better option. Pawar and Adani also recently met in Mumbai, amply indicating Pawar’s close ties with the industrialist.
Supporting the PM
Similarly, amid the row over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s degree and education qualifications, Pawar asked whether anyone’s educational degree would be a political issue in the country when we face unemployment, law and order, and inflation. Notably, Ajit Pawar too expressed similar sentiments.
ED action
Besides other NCP leaders in the net of the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Ajit Pawar and his family members are under ED’s radar. The ED had earlier attached the properties of a sugar mill linked to Ajit Pawar and his wife, Sunetra, in the Maharashtra State Cooperative (MSC) Bank scam.
However, the names of Ajit Pawar and Sunetra were dropped from the charge sheet, thus indicating that NCP and BJP are coming closer.
In a dramatic twist to political events in Maharashtra, Fadnavis was sworn in as the Chief Minister and Ajit Pawar as the Deputy Chief Minister early in the morning on November 23, 2019. The oath of office to the two leaders was administered at a closely guarded ceremony at the Raj Bhavan in South Mumbai at 8.00 am by the then Governor Bhagat Singh Koshayri, setting off political ripples across parties in the State.
The BJP went ahead with early morning swearing-in when the Shiv Sena refused to join the government despite contesting the elections in an alliance.
However, Ajit Pawar resigned on November 26, 2019, following which Fadnavis also threw in the towel, resulting in the collapse of the government that lasted for only 80 hours.
Then as per SC directions, the three-party (Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress) MVA Government led by Uddhav Thackeray was formed on November 28, 2019, thereby ending the high-voltage political drama.
Also Read: FIR Filed against Shiv Sena MLA Sarvankar under Arms Act
