Report by Aryaa Sinha
Maharashtra has a new Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Minister, and Assembly Speaker.
Let’s understand the story behind this in detail.
The Background
Shiv Sena (The Army of Shiva) is a political party founded in 1966 by Shri Bala Saheb Thackerey.
Bal Thackeray passed away in 2012 and with this, the leadership of Shiv Sena passed onto his son Uddav Thackeray. Shiv Sena is an old time ally of BJP.
The 2019 election of Maharashtra legislative Assembly had a total number of 288 seats. Out of these, the magic number to form the government was 145 (n/2+1, where n =total no. of seats) of which 105 seats were claimed by BJP, 56 seats by Uddhav Thakarey’s Shiv Sena. 54 seats won by Sharad Pawar’s NCP and 44 seats by Congress.
Since no party had got the magic number, it was expected that a coalition of BJP and Shiv Sena would happen. However on the final day, Shiv Sena announced its ties with the Indian National Congress and NCP and formed the government. This coalition government of Maharashtra was given the name Maha Vikas Akhari Party (MVA).
A coalition government is formed when at least two or more political parties join to form a government.
The Breaking up of the Shiv Sena
From the beginning, Shiv Sena had one ideology: Hindu pride with specific focus on pride in Maratha identity.
Shri Eknath Shinde was one of the most influential party members and a staunch supporter of Bala Saheb Thackeray. He had expressed his dissatisfaction with the political developments in the past few months. The Congress party is very different from the values that Shiv Sena stands for.
The Strategy and Action
On 22nd June 2022, Shri Eknath Shindi and 29 MLAs went missing from the party which later rose to 37 MLAs bringing down the majority of MVA party.
With this move, the entire government was disrupted.
Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray said he is ready to quit the NCP and Congress alliance if Shiv Sena MLAs get back.
But before this, the MLAs who left had already considered Eknath Shinde as the new leader and formed a new party with the name Shiv Sena Balasaheb.
The only way out for Shiv Sena leaders to bring back the MLAs to the party was to disqualify them by using anti -defection law.
Anti Defection Law punishes individual Members of Parliament (MPs)/MLAs for leaving one party for another. Its purpose is to bring stability to the government and is added to the constitution via the 52nd Amendment Act.
However, this law does not apply if the number of MLAs who leave the party constitute 2/3rd of the party’s strength. These MLAs can merge with another party or become a separate group in the legislature.
The Present Scenario
Left with only 16 MLAs supporting him, Shri Uddhav Thackeray resigned from his post as Chief Minister of Maharashtra.
Shri Eknath Shinde formed a coalition government with BJP and became the new Chief Minister (CM) of Maharashtra.
Shri Devendra Fadnavis of BJP was made the deputy Chief Minister.
Shinde has cleared the floor test on 4th July 2022 by getting maximum votes in his favour.
A floor test or No Confidence Motion is a legislative measure conducted on the floor of the house to know whether the appointed member enjoys the confidence of 51% members of the House.
The New Speaker
Shri Rahul Narwekar of the BJP was also selected as the new Speaker of the Maharashtra Assembly.
All images from the Twitter of the respective leaders. Cover Image: Lions Point, Maharashtra, Image by Sanjay H
