THE Devendra Fadnavis-led Ministry on Monday sailed through a trust vote in the Maharashtra Assembly. The trust motion, tabled by Shiv Sena MLA Uday Samant and others, was passed by a voice vote. Speaker Rahul Narwekar announced that the trust motion has been approved by the House. The BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP ‘Mahayuti’ coalition has a commanding majority of 230 seats in the 288-member State Assembly. The majority mark in the Assembly is 144. “The confidence motion has been passed with a majority. The Legislative Assembly will adjourn now and will resume after the speech of the Maharashtra Governor today,” Narwekar said in the Assembly. Fadnavis was sworn in as the Chief Minister for the third time on December 5. Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar took oath as Deputy Chief Ministers at the ceremony attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Mumbai.

 

The 15th Legislative Assembly officially began its tenure on December 7. With the BJP-led alliance securing 230 seats in the 288-member lower House, the floor test was a mere formality. Shiv Sena leader and former Minister Uday Samant, BJP legislator Sanjay Kute, senior NCP leader and former Minister Dilip Walse Patil, and independent MLA Ravi Rana tabled the proposal for a confidence motion in the Lower House. With Narwekar’s appointment as Speaker, the Mahayuti coalition now holds the support of 229 MLAs, including small parties and independent MLAs. The party positions in the 15th Assembly are: Mahayuti - BJP 132 MLAs; Shiv Sena 57; NCP 41; Jan Surabaya Shakti Party 2; Rashtriya Yuva Swabhiman Party 1; Rashtriya Samaj Paksh 1; Independents 2; Rajarshi Shahu Vikas Aghadi 1. 

 

 

BJP MLA Rahul Narwekar was on Monday elected unopposed as the Speaker of the 15th Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, in his congratulatory speech, highlighted that Narwekar is the second member of the Lower House to be re-elected to the post since the State’s formation in 1960. “Balasaheb Bharde was the only Speaker of the Legislative Assembly to be re-elected to the post twice since 1960 when Maharashtra was formed. After Bharde, Narwekar is the second member of the Assembly to receive the honour,” the Chief Minister said. He pointed out that Kundanmal Firodia was the first Speaker of the House to be reappointed, but it was during the time of Bombay State, and Sayaji L Silam was elected as the Speaker before the formation of Maharashtra, and he was re-elected after the State came into existence.

 

Narwekar filed his nomination papers on Sunday and was elected unopposed as the Opposition alliance Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) decided not to put up a contest. The BJP leader, the Speaker in the 14th Assembly for two and a half years, was re-elected from the Colaba Assembly seat in Mumbai in the November 20 Assembly elections. During his tenure as Maharashtra Assembly Speaker, Narwekar had ruled that the party led by Eknath Shinde was the legitimate and real Shiv Sena after a split in the Uddhav Thackeray-led party. He also held that the faction under Ajit Pawar was the real Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which was founded by Sharad Pawar.