Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee chief Nana Patole took oath on December 8, 2024. File
| Photo Credit: Special arrangement
On the second day of the three-day Special Session of the Maharashtra Assembly, on Sunday (December 8, 2024), the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) MLAs-elect took their oaths. The leaders had boycotted the first day, on Saturday (December 7, 2024), alleging misuse of electronic voting machines (EVMs) and raising concerns over the massive mandate secured by the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance. They also protested the curfew and arrests at Markadwadi village in the Malshiras constituency of Solapur district as people demanded a mock poll using ballot papers.
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The Session started with Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) chief Nana Patole, the former Speaker of the Maharashtra State Legislative Assembly, taking the oath. Other leaders include Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray, Congress’ Amit Vilasrao Deshmukh, Vishwajeet Kadam, Nationalist Congress Party [NCP(SP)] Rohit Pawar and Rohit R.R. Patil.
Meanwhile, BJP leader and Colaba MLA Rahul Narvekar, who served as the Speaker in the previous Assembly, is likely to be elected unopposed as the Speaker of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.
In the presence of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy Chief Ministers Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar, Mr. Narvekar filed his nomination for the post on Sunday (December 8, 2024). BJP State President Chandrasekhar Bawankule, senior leader Chandrakant Patil and several other legislators were also present during the occasion. No other candidate in the fray.
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The Speaker’s election will be held on December 9, 2024 and it will be followed by trust vote of the Devendra Fadnavis-led Mahayuti government which was sworn-in on December 5.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Bhaskar Jadhav on Saturday (December 7, 2024) appealed to the ruling parties to honour legislative traditions by giving the Deputy Speaker’s post to the Opposition.
“There has been a long-standing tradition in the legislature where, if the Speaker of the Lower House was elected unopposed, the Deputy Speaker’s post was allocated to the Opposition. This practice was disrupted in the 2000s when the Sena-BJP alliance fielded a candidate for the Speaker’s post. At that time, the late Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh declared that since the Sena-BJP alliance had broken the tradition, the Opposition would not be given the Deputy Speaker’s post,” Mr. Jadhav recounted.
“We now hope that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will seize this opportunity to restore the tradition by granting the Deputy Speaker’s post to the Opposition, particularly as the Speaker is expected to be elected unopposed. Furthermore, we urge the ruling side to allocate the Leader of the Opposition post to the single largest Opposition party,” the Uddhav Thackeray-loyalist, said.
Published – December 08, 2024 12:46 pm IST
