Maharashtra Floor Test: Eknath Shinde-Led Govt Wins Trust Vote By 164-99 Margin In Assembly

The Eknath Shinde-led government won the floor test in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly with 164 votes today hence proving its majority in the House.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde | File Image

New Delhi: The Eknath Shinde-led government won the floor test in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly by a 164-99 margin of votes today hence proving its majority in the House. The newly sworn-in Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who along with 39 other MLAs rebelled against his party Shiv Sena, was to prove his majority on the floor of House. The exercise started with a voice vote but after Opposition demanded for a division of votes method, Speaker Narvekar asked supporting and opposing MLAs to be seated on the either side of the Chair in the House.

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and All India Majlis e Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) opted out of voting while eight legislators of the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance remained absent during the exercise.    

Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde wins the trust vote by a 164-99 margin, 3 members abstained from voting. pic.twitter.com/ZbaM54n1fd

— ANI (@ANI) July 4, 2022

A day earlier on Sunday, BJP's Rahul Narvekar was elected as the Speaker of the House with over 140 votes. On Friday, Narvekar had filed his nomination as the party candidate for the election to the post of Maharashtra Assembly Speaker. The post has been vacant after former Assembly Speaker, Nana Patole of Congress party resigned in February 2021 to become his party's state unit president. Acting Speaker while the absence of the Speaker was Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal.

Meanwhile, Bharat Gogawale, Chief whip of Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction) has given a petition to the Assembly Speaker for the suspension of 16 MLAs of the party for violation of whip. The 16 MLAs will be issued notice for suspension, confirms the Speaker's office.

Eknath Shinde along with 39 other other legislators of the Shiv Sena rebelled against thier party whih pushed the Maha Vikas Aghadi government, an alliance of the Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party and Congress, to minority. The Eknath Shinde faction stayed at a hotel in Surat before moving to Assam's Guwahati for almost 10 days. 

On Thursday, Eknath Shinde sworn in as the 20th Chief Minister of Maharashtra after Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray resigned from the post of Chief Minister and also the MLA of the party. Former Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis sworn in as Shinde's deputy.