On the evening of 30 June 2022, Mr Eknath Shinde was sworn in as the new Chief Minister of Maharashtra and Mr Devendra Fadnavis became the Deputy Chief Minister. The development came a day after Mr Uddhav Thackeray, who led the coalition of Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress, resigned as the state’s Chief Minister, after just two and a half years of being in power. This took place in the backdrop of a political crisis which started on 20 June as the Shiv-Sena led coalition faced a setback where they won just two seats out of 10 in the Legislative council elections against Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) winning five seats.
The turning point came when Mr Eknath Shinde, who was part of the Shiv Sena led coalition and Minister of Maharashtra’s Urban Development and Public Works (Public Undertaking), staged a walk out from the party along with 40 other Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs). Mr Shinde received simple majority of 37 Shiv Sena MLAs, out of the total 55, who pledged their support to him through a written letter to the deputy speaker of the Legislative Assembly.
In a series of tweets, Mr Shinde expressed that the alliance of Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress in the state of Maharashtra was unnatural, where only NCP and Congress had benefitted from it. In a statement, he said that they will continue to carry forward Mr Balasaheb Thackeray’s Hindutva ideology. Mr Balasaheb Thackeray was an Indian politician who founded the Shiv Sena, a pro-Marathi and Hindu nationalist party active in the state of Maharashtra. According to news reports, Mr Shinde also felt side-lined since the formation of Uddhav Thackrey led government in Maharashtra.
After the walk out of the MLA’s, Shiv Sena moved a petition to impeach 16 MLAs, who supported Mr Shinde, for missing a party meeting on 22 June. On the same day, two independent MLAs backed a no-confidence motion filed by the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP), which was singed by 34 other MLAs, against Mr Narhari Zirwal, Deputy Speaker of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. Mr Zirwal rejected the no-confidence vote which led to the Maharashtra parliamentary office summoning and sending disqualification notices to the 16 dissident Shiv Sena MLA’s and demanding written responses to the allegations by June 27. Challenging the disqualification notices, Mr Eknath Shinde moved the Supreme Court.
On 29 June, Maharashtra’s Governor Mr Bhagat Singh asked the Maharashtra Legislature Secretary to hold a floor test of Shiv-Sena led government on 30 June. This was challenged by the Shiv Sena in the Supreme Court, which was rejected. Immediately after the Supreme Court’s refusal to intervene, Mr Uddhav Thackrey resigned from his position of the Chief Minister.
It was anticipated that Mr Devendra Fadnavis, leader of opposition and former CM of Maharashtra, would become the CM for the third time. However, he announced that Mr Eknath Shinde would become the new Chief Minister and took the position of Deputy CM.
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