Maharashtra special Assembly session: Maha Vikas Aghadi MPs sworn in on second day

Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee chief Nana Patole took oath on December 8, 2024. File | Photo Credit: Special Editing

On the second day of the three-day Special Session of the Maharashtra National Assembly, on Sunday (December 8, 2024), the elected Opposition Members of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) took their oaths. Leaders boycotted the first day, Saturday (December 7, 2024), alleging misuse of electronic voting machines (EVMs) and raising concerns about the large mandate won by the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance. They also protested against curfew and arrest of people in Markadwadi village of Malshiras district of Solapur district as people demanded mock polls using ballot papers.

173 Mahayuti MLAs sworn in amid opposition boycott over alleged EVM manipulation, Markadwadi return period

The session began with Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) chief Nana Patole, former Speaker of the Maharashtra State Legislative Assembly, taking oath. Other leaders include Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray, Amit Vilasrao Deshmukh of Congress, Vishwajeet Kadam, Nationalist Congress Party. [NCP(SP)] Rohit Pawar and Rohit RR Patil.

Meanwhile, BJP leader and MLA from Colaba, Rahul Narvekar, who served as Speaker in the previous Parliament, is likely to be elected unopposed as the Speaker of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.

In the presence of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy Chief Ministers Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar, Mr. Narvekar submitted his nomination for the post on Sunday (December 8, 2024). BJP State President Chandrasekhar Bawankule, senior leader Chandrakant Patil and several other legislators were also present on the occasion. There is no other candidate in this race.

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The Speaker’s election will be held on December 9, 2024 and will be followed by a vote of confidence in the Devendra Fadnavis-led Mahayuti government that was sworn in on December 5.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Bhaskar Jadhav on Saturday (December 7, 2024) urged the ruling parties to respect the rule of law by giving the post of Deputy Speaker to the opposition.

“There has been a tradition in the Legislature for a long time that if the Speaker of Parliament is appointed without opposition, the position of Deputy Speaker is assigned to the opposition party. This trend was disrupted in the 2000s when the Sena-BJP alliance nominated a candidate for the post of Speaker. At that time, the late Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh announced that since the Sena-BJP alliance had broken tradition, the opposition party would not be given the post of Deputy Speaker,” recounted Mr Jadhav.

“Now we hope that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will use this opportunity to restore the tradition by giving the position of Deputy Speaker to the opposition party, especially since the Speaker is expected to be elected unopposed. Further, we urge the ruling party to give Leader of Opposition to the largest opposition party,” said Uddhav Thackeray-loyalist.