On May 11, 2023, the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court pronounced the verdict on the Maharashtra political crisis. The five-judge Constitution bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justices MR Shah, Krishna Murari, Hima Kohli, and PS Narasimha was dealing with the political issue related to Maharashtra.
The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that the governor of Maharashtra was not justified in asking Ex chief minister Uddhav Thackeray to prove majority in the Assembly on June 30, 2022, but refused to impose status quo ante, stating he did not face the floor test and resigned.
The Supreme Court ruled on May 11 in the Maharashtra political conflict case that, “the Speaker must decide on the disqualification petitions within a reasonable period,” putting all eyes on Speaker Rahul Narwekar. He joined the BJP in 2019 ahead of the Assembly polls and won the Colaba seat.
Following the formation of the Eknath Shinde government on July 3, 2022, Mr. Narwekar was elected Speaker with a total of 164 votes cast in his support, a position that had been empty since January 2021 following the resignation of Nana Patole.
What former Governor Koshyari says?
Former Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari stated that the Supreme Court’s decision to allow Eknath Shinde to take the chief minister’s oath was correct. “The Supreme Court has made it clear in its judgement that my decision to allow Shinde to take oath as Chief Minister and accept Uddhav Thackeray’s resignation is correct,” Koshyari added.
Shiv Sena UBT chief and former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray urged PM Modi on Friday and to tell his people to resign and ask them to face elections, a day after the Supreme Court ruled that the then-Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari’s decision to call for a floor test, which eventually brought down the MVA government, was illegal.
While CM Eknath Shinde praised the SC ruling as a “triumph of truth,” Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis stated that the ruling confirmed that the state’s existing government is constitutional and legal. On the other hand, NCP chief Sharad Pawar stated that morality and the BJP are diametrically opposed concepts, while Uddhav stated that “Eknath Shinde won after murdering democracy.” And that, “On moral considerations, he should retire now.”
The Supreme Court’s five-judge Bench did not rule on the disqualification petitions filed by former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on May 11, saying, “This court cannot ordinarily adjudicate petitions for disqualification under the 10th Schedule [disqualification for defection] in the first instance. There are no special circumstances in this case that justify this court’s exercise of authority to hear disqualification petitions. The Speaker shall make a decision on disqualification petitions within a reasonable time.”