Maharashtra political crisis: Uddhav resigns after SC greenlights floor test, Fadnavis set to be CM again | India News

MUMBAI: After nine days of intense political turmoil, the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra collapsed late on Wednesday evening. Uddhav Thackeray resigned as chief minister of the three-party Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress (MVA) coalition minutes after the Supreme Court ruled that the floor test in the Maharashtra assembly would go ahead on Thursday.

With the floor test no longer necessary after Thackeray’s resignation, governor B S Koshyari will soon invite leader of opposition, BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis, for formation of the new government. Fadnavis will return for his third term as CM, while Shiv Sena’s rebel leader Eknath Shinde, who walked away with 39 out of the party’s 55 MLAs, will likely be the deputy CM. At least a dozen of Shinde’s supporters are likely to be accommodated in the Fadnavis cabinet, sources said.
Fadnavis told TOI, “We are in the process of staking claim for formation of government. It may take another 2-3 days to complete the formalities.”

Trust vote result subject to final order in whip’s plea: SC
The Supreme Court refused to stay Maharashtra governor B S Koshyari’s direction to MVA to face a floor test on Thursday following the rebellion of 39 of the 55 Shiv Sena MLAs, reports Dhananjay Mahapatra.
After a three-and-a-half hour hearing ending at 8.30pm on a petition filed by Sena chief whip Sunil Prabhu challenging the governor’s decision, followed by an in-chamber deliberation for 40 minutes, a bench of Justices Surya Kant and J B Pardiwala said, “We are not inclined to stay the floor test ordered by the governor for tomorrow at 11am.”

However, the bench clarified “the outcome of tomorrow’s (Thursday’s) floor test will be subject to the final decision in the (Prabhu’s) petition.” The bench posted the petition for detailed hearing on July 12 along with petitions filed by rebel Sena leader Eknath Shinde and 16 other supporting MLAs, who have challenged the deputy speaker’s notice for their disqualification under the anti-defection law.

The SC said, “We do not find any ground to stay convening of the special session with the only agenda of a trust vote; the proceedings of the trust vote shall be subject to the final outcome of the writ petition (by Prabhu) as well the writ petitions (one by Shinde and other by rebel MLAs challenging disqualification proceedings); the Special Session shall be conducted in accordance with the directions as contained in the governor’s June 28 communication.”