Devendra Fadnavis, Ajit Pawar Resign ahead of Floor Test in Maharashtra Assembly

Mumbai: Hours after the Supreme Court directed to conduct  floor test in the Maharashtra assembly before 5 PM on November 27, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar  today resigned as Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister of the state, respectively.

Briefing media persons here little while  ago, Fadnavis said  that the government lost majority after NCP leader Ajit Pawar’s resignation as the Deputy Chief Minister earlier today.

“Ajit Pawar handed in his resignation this morning. So we don’t have the requisite numbers to continue. Accordingly, I have decided to quit. I shall go to the Governor and submit my resignation today,” Fadnavis said.

Earlier in the day, the he apex court  directed Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari to ensure that all elected members of the house are sworn in tomorrow itself. The entire exercise has to be completed by 5 PM.

A bench comprising Justices N V Ramana, Ashok Bhushan and Sanjiv Khanna also said the entire proceedings has to be telecast live. The bench added that the voting in the assembly shall not be on the basis of secret ballot.

On Saturday morning,  Fadnavis  and Pawar  took oath as as Chief Minister and  Deputy Chief Minister respectively in a secretive swearing-in ceremony.

Next day, NCP-Congress-Shiv Sena approached the Supreme Court demanding a floor test for the newly formed Fadnavis-Pawar government.

Yesterday, Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress paraded a total of 162 MLAs at Grand Hyatt Hotel here, while the majority mark to form a government needs 145 MLAs  .

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