SC To Hear Sena-Congress-NCP Plea Against Maharashtra Governor's Decision On Sunday

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a petition by Shiv Sena-Congress-National Congress Party seeking a floor test within 24 hours to avoid horse-trading and "illegal manoeuvres" in Maharashtra at 11.30 a.m. on Sunday.

Petitioners moved the apex court on Saturday evening seeking an urgent hearing. (File Photo/ Getty)

New Delhi: The conclusion of a politically hectic day ended with Supreme Court agreeing to hear the writ petition filed by Shiv Sena, Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) seeking a floor test within 24 hours in order to avoid horse-trading and "illegal manoeuvres" in Maharashtra at 11.30 a.m. on Sunday. The three parties also sought a direction to Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari to invite them to form government under the leadership of Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, saying they have the support of more than 144 MLAs. According to reports, the petitioners moved the apex court on Saturday evening seeking an urgent hearing following which the court authorities confirmed a hearing on the petition at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday. The petition sought quashing of Maharasthra Governor B.S. Koshyari's decision to invite BJP's Devendra Fadnavis to form the government on Saturday morning as unconstitutional, arbitrary, illegal, void-ab-initio and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India. Their lawyer Sunil Fernandes said the hearing is slated to commence at 11:30 am, but the composition of the bench is not known. "It is submitted that the governor has acted in a partisan manner and made a mockery of the high office of governor," the plea said. Koshyari's actions on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday, "culminating to swearing in on November 23 are textbook example of the governor acting at the behest of a political party in power at the Centre", it said. The facts in the case demonstrate that the governor has "belittled the constitutional office and has allowed himself to be a pawn in the BJP's illegal usurpation of power", the plea stated. The governor's action in installing a "minority BJP" government is ex-facie illegal and unconstitutional, the petition, filed through advocate Fernandes, claimed, adding that the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress combine has a "clear majority" in the 288-member state assembly and the BJP "clearly falls short of the halfway mark of 144". The petition also said that after comprehensive talks, the three parties finalised a common minimum programme for a post-poll alliance called MVA, and on November 22, it was announced that Uddhav Thackeray would be the alliance's chief ministerial candidate. "Facing the prospect of a non-BJP government staking claim to power, the BJP on the intervening night of November 22 and 23 resorted to political machinations in an attempt to install a completely unconstitutional BJP government in the state," the plea said. "More importantly the actions of the governor are entirely malafide and for extraneous considerations without even a prima facie satisfaction based on objective material that Fadnavis has majority support of the members of the house, the application said. The application sought appropriate directions for summoning a special session of the 14th Maharashtra legislative assembly with the only agenda of administering oath to the MLAs, immediately followed by the holding of a floor test on November 24". The application also sought direction for furnishing relevant records from the governor's office with regard to the invitation to Fadnavis to form government on Saturday, the satisfaction of the governor as to the support enjoyed by Fadnavis of a majority of MLAs in the assembly and his subsequent swearing in as the CM. Video recording of the floor test and placing copies of the video before the court and appointing a pro-tem speaker to preside over the conduct of the floor test were also sought in the application. In a stunning political development, BJP's Fadnavis on wee hours of Saturday took oath as Maharashtra CM for the second consecutive term while NCP's Ajit Pawar took oath as Deputy Chief Minister of the state. The oath was administered by Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari at Raj Bhawan today. (With inputs from agencies)