MumbaiThe Maharashtra government on Tuesday deferred its decision to hold the election of the state assembly speaker after taking legal opinion to avoid a confrontation with the Raj Bhavan. A senior minister in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government said the election would be held in the next session of the state assembly.
The winter session of the Legislature will end on Tuesday (today). The post of the president has been lying vacant since February this year, after Nana Patole, who was elected to the constitutional post at the end of 2019, resigned to take over as the state Congress president. Sources said Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray spoke to Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar over phone on Tuesday and sought his opinion on the Raj Bhavan’s “refusal” to give its approval for the election schedule of the Viss president.
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A source said, “Pawar also spoke to Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni and later the MVA leaders met at Vidhan Bhavan to discuss the stand of the government. The government wanted to hold the election of the Speaker during the current session. On Sunday, a delegation of MVA leaders met Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari with a letter from Chief Minister Thackeray. Koshyari later told the government that the amendment to the legislative rules to conduct the election of the Speaker through voice vote instead of ballot paper was “unconstitutional”, and he was examining its constitutional validity.
The MVA had responded by saying that it was within its rights to amend the existing rules as per the changing times. On Monday, the state government had said it was adamant on holding elections on Tuesday if the governor did not respond. The MVA said that if the Governor did not respond to his second letter, it would be considered as his consent. But, sources said, Koshyari replied on Tuesday morning. However, he did not elaborate on the contents of the letter. (agency)