Ahead of trust vote, BJP summons all 105 MLAs for a meeting at 9 pm today

Mumbai: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has called all its 105 MLAs for a meeting to the Garware Club at Wankhede Stadium at 9 pm on Tuesday. The BJP has been ordered by the Supreme Court to prove its majority in the Maharashtra Assembly on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters, BJP leader Rao Saheb Danve said: "We will prove our majority. Tonight at 9 pm, all BJP MLAs will meet at Garware Club in Mumbai."

The Supreme Court ordered on a plea challenging the manner in which the BJP's Devendra Fadnavis took power in an unannounced oath ceremony on Saturday, with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)'s Ajit Pawar as his deputy.

A floor test will be held in the Maharashtra Assembly before 5 pm on November 27, the Supreme Court ordered today, days after BJP's Devendra Fadnavis took oath as the state's chief minister, nixing Shiv Sena-Congress-NCP's bid to form the government.

The top court also ordered for the floor test to be telecast live.

A floor test is a constitutional mechanism under which a chief minister can be asked to prove majority in the state Assembly.

A three-judge bench, headed by Justice Ramana, passed the order on a joint petition filed by the three parties challenging Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari's decision to swear in Fadnavis as Chief Minister and NCP's Ajit Pawar as his deputy during the early hours of Saturday.

The oaths were administered at a time when deliberations among the three parties on government formation had reached the final stage. The urgent plea filed by the trio sought a direction to conduct an immediate floor test.

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