The Government of Maharashtra has postponed its decision to hold the election of the President of the State Legislative Assembly
Bombay:
Maharashtra’s government on Tuesday postponed its decision to hold the election of the president of the state’s Legislative Assembly after a legal advice that confrontation with the Raj Bhavan should be avoided.
The election will be held in the next session of the state legislature, said a senior minister in the government of Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA – comprising the Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress).
Tuesday is the last day of the ongoing winter session of the legislature.
The chairman’s post has been vacant since February this year, after Nana Patole, who was elected to the constitution in late 2019, resigned to take charge as head of the state congress.
On Tuesday, sources told PTI news agency that Prime Minister Uddhav Thackeray spoke by phone with NCP President Sharad Pawar to ask his opinion about the Raj Bhavan’s ‘refusal’ to give his nod to the chairman’s election schedule.
“(Sharad) Pawar also spoke with Solicitor General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni and later the MVA leaders met in the Vidhan Bhavan to discuss the government’s position,” a source told PTI news agency.
The government wanted to hold the election of the president during the current session.
On Sunday, a delegation of MVA leaders met Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari with a letter from CM Thackeray.
Mr Koshyari later informed the government that the change in the legal rules to hold the president’s election by voting instead of voting was “unconstitutional” and that he was checking its constitutional validity.
The MVA had responded by saying it was within its right to change the existing rules according to changing times.
The Shiv Sena-led MVA, which ruled for two years in November, has a majority in the 288-member House.
Notably, 12 MLAs of the BJP have been suspended for a year since the monsoon session in July this year for alleged misconduct with the Speaker of the Chamber. On Monday, the state government had said it was determined to hold the election on Tuesday if the governor did not respond.
The MVA had said that if the governor did not reply to his second letter, it would be considered his consent.
But, Koshyari replied Tuesday morning, sources told PTI, without commenting on the contents of the letter.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.)
