DNA Special: How the MVA government lost the numbers game in Maharashtra?

The Supreme Court on Wednesday night rejected the demand of Shiv Sena to postpone the floor test in Maharashtra, leaving the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra no option but to face a litmus test the next day itself.

With a high possibility of the government falling in the floor test, Uddhav Thackeray did a webcast in half an hour of the SC setback and announced his resignation from the post of Maharashtra Chief Minister. He also resigned from his membership of the Legislative Council. There were some other significant things he said.

Thackeray said that he would try to create Shiv Sena again. He also thanked Congress and NCP for supporting him till the end. Thackeray also took a jibe at the Shiv Sena rebels, saying that the people to whom he gave everything ditched him, while ones to whom he gave nothing remained. 

The number game in Maharashtra: How MVA lost count

There are 288 seats in Maharashtra Legislative Assembly. Due to the death of one MLA, the number of sitting MLAs currently stands at 287. For the majority, 144 seats are needed. Before the Maharashtra Political Crisis erupted some 10 days ago, Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress had a total of 152 MLAs. That is, these three parties had 7 MLAs more than the majority.

Of these, Shiv Sena had 55 MLAs, NCP had 53 MLAs and Congress had 44 MLAs. Thus, this figure becomes 152. However, the rebellion in Shiv Sena changed the game.

Including Eknath Shinde, 39 rebel MLAs of Shiv Sena are now opposing Uddhav Thackeray. In a floor test, they would have voted to topple the government. This means the Uddhav government would only have had 116 MLAs to show for itself.

Of these, only 16 MLAs of Shiv Sena remain with Uddhav Thackeray. The coalition government has 28 MLAs less than needed to claim the majority. The number game made the fall of the Uddhav government certain in a floor test. 

What’s next for Maharashtra?

The BJP will now stake its claim to form a new government in Maharashtra, with the support of 169 MLAs. Of these, 106 MLAs are its own while 50 MLAs belong to the Eknath Shinde faction – 39 rebel MLAs are from Shiv Sena and 11 others also with Shinde. 

Apart from this, 13 other MLAs have also declared their support for the BJP. Thus the number is 169. This means BJP has 25 MLAs more than the majority and will very easily be able to form the government.

Devendra Fadnavis is likely to become the Chief Minister of Maharashtra for the third time. Fadnavis has said that BJP is in the process of staking its claim to form the government and the process will take 2-3 days to complete. 

Eknath Shinde and other rebel MLAs are now in Goa after their stay in Guwahati. They are soon expected back in Mumbai. In his parting address as CM, Uddhav Thackery also asked Shiv Sainiks to not take to the streets in protest and let the rebel MLAs return safely to Mumbai. 

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