When people of Maharashtra were going to sleep on Friday night, they expected to wake up with the announcement of Shiv Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray being unanimously elected as Maharashtra Chief Minister.
But, under the cloud of these talks, some other plan took shape overnight.
The President’s rule was lifted ‘secretly’ at 5:47 am on Saturday and with the help of NCP’s Ajit Pawar, BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis met the Governor of Maharashtra and staked claim to form the Government in the state. The news left people startled as no official announcement was made and Bharatiya Janata Party’s Devendra Fadnavis took oath as the Chief Minister with NCP leader Ajit Pawar as his deputy CM.
The Congress, Shiv Sena and the NCP on Saturday filed a plea in the Supreme Court and demanded an urgent floor test on Sunday. The parties have demanded that the floor test of the newly-formed Devendra Fadnavis-led government, to prove the majority, be taken on-record.
What next?
Now, according to precedent set by the Supreme Court’s judgement in the S R Bommai vs Union of India case of 1994, only a floor test in the Assembly will decide if this government can continue or not irrespective of who supports whom.