Mumbai: BJP Legislator Rahul Narwekar got elected as the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker in the special Assembly session convened on Sunday. The election to the Speaker's post was crucial as it took place days after rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde got sworn in as the new Chief Minister after a week-long political storm that engulfed the state of Maharashtra. The much-awaited floor test is scheduled to be held on Monday.
Here is all you need to know about today's polls and what they entail:
- BJP's legislator Rahul Narwekar got elected as the new Legislative Assembly Speaker in the Eknath Shinde-led government. the voting was held via head count, wherein Narwekar went past the majority with 164 out of the 288 votes. He was pitted against Shiv Sena MLA Rajan Salvi of the Uddhav Thackeray team who could rise up to the 107 mark.
- Both factions -- Shiv Sena headed by Uddhav Thackeray and the other led by Eknath Shinde, had issued whips asking the MLAs to vote for their respective Speaker candidates. Chief Minister Eknath Shinde along with rebel Shiv Sena MLAs and several BJP MLAs reached the State Assembly for the Speaker polls earlier in the day. The crucial face-off began at 11 am.
- The nomination plays a pivotal role in deciding the further course of action in the state given the recent political upheaval it experienced. Narwekar shall now hold the legal rights to withdraw the disqualification proceedings against the 16 rebel MLAs issued by Deputy speaker Narhari Zirwal last month. BJP has thus secured the upper hand here, with no threat to its fresh alliance in the state.
- Moreover, Narwekar shall also have the power to decide whether or not the Shinde faction shall be recognised as the 'real Shiv Sena' as claimed by Eknath Shinde, who claims to hold 2/3 rd of the party's majority in his favour. After Narwekar's nomination, the further turn of events for Shiv Sena's identity as a political party will now be crucial to watch.
- The last Assembly Speaker Nana Patole resigned from his post in February 2021, in order to take charge as the state unit president of Congress, his home party. The post has been lying vacant ever since. NCP chief Sharad Pawar had claimed that Narhari Zirwal, the deputy Speaker, can perform officiating Speaker's duties even though a no-confidence motion is pending against him.
- Post today's nominations, the four-day-old Shiv Sena-BJP government is scheduled to face the floor test on July 4 during the special two-day session of the Legislative Assembly that will commence with today's polls.
- As many as 50 MLAs who support Shinde, including 39 rebel legislators of the Shiv Sena, on Saturday evening had flown to Mumbai from Goa by a chartered flight. They were lodged in a luxury hotel in south Mumbai, where Vidhan Bhavan, the venue of the floor test, is located.
- Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and the ex-CM of Maharashtra on Friday removed Shinde as the party leader claiming his involvement in "anti-party activities". The Shinde faction thereafter claimed to get on the ground as the real 'Sena'.
- Meanwhile, the Shiv Sena legislative party office in Mumbai's Vidhan Bhavan was found sealed with a notice in Marathi pasted outside which reads, "This office is closed as per instructions of Shiv Sena legislative party office."
- The political scuffle that was focused on the Chief Minister's post in the state is now revolving around establishing control of the Shiv Sena as a party, after the Uddhav Thackeray-led government collapsed, thereby placing charge with rebel MLA Eknath Shinde as the new Chief Minister.
