SC directs Maharashtra floor test by 5 pm on Wednesday, no secret ballot

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the floor test for Maharashtra Assembly to be held on November 27 and should be completed before 5 pm. The court ordered that the floor-test should be conducted by a protem speaker and the proceedings would be live telecasted.

“There exists a dispute in the role of the judiciary. Institutional comity must exist without judicial interference…. At this interim stage, parties must maintain constitutional morality,” ruled a three-judge bench comprising Justices NV Ramana, Ashok Bhushan and Sanjiv Khanna.

Talking about constitutional morality, the apex court cited the Uttarakhand ruling and the Bihar Jagdambika Pal case.

The top court delivered its order after hearing of all the concerned parties to the petition filed by the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress alliance concluded on Monday.

On Monday, the Centre argued that Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari invited Devendra Fadnavis to form government based on a letter showing the support of 170 MLAs, including all 54 of the NCP of Ajit Pawar, who was sworn in as Deputy Chief Minister.

The Shiv Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress, who filed the petition on Saturday challenging Maharashtra Governor BS Koshyari’s decision to invite Devendra Fadnavis to form the state government, on Monday evening claimed to have the numbers in an unprecedented show of strength.

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