The Supreme Court on Monday is to hear the petitions filed against Devendra Fadnavis as Chief Minister and Ajit Pawar as Deputy Chief Minister in Maharashtra. Upon hearing the arguments, the court adjourned the hearing for 26th November. The Supreme Court asked solicitor general Tushar Mehta to submit the two letters, one by Ajit Pawar pledging NCP support to BJP and the other by Devendra Fadnavis staking claim to form the government.
Emergency petitions were filed by the Shiv Sena-NCP and the Congress on Saturday over Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari carrying out the swearing ceremony of Devendra Fadnavis. Despite being a holiday, Justice NV Ramana, Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice Sanjeev Khanna has taken up the petition. While former Union Minister and for the advocate, Kapil Sibal has taken up the case on behalf of Shiv Sena NCP, senior Congress leader and Supreme Court advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi argued on Congress side.
Both Shiv Sena and Congress advocates have argued that the Governor’s action was biased and against democracy. They demanded to conduct a floor test immediately if the BJP claimed that they had a majority. It has been cited that the same happened in Karnataka. The parade was called for by the MLAs who supported it. The Solicitor General explained to the court that Devendra sworn was sworn in based on the letter to the Governor by Fadnavis that he had a sufficient majority to form the government.
