The crucial, neck-to-neck contest was necessitated as the Bharatiya Janata Party fielded three candidates while Shiv Sena put up two and Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party one each.
He spent Saturday at his brother's home in Mumbai even as his uncle and NCP chief Sharad Pawar attended a party meeting where most of the NCP MLAs were present.
First-time Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Rahul Narvekar on Friday filed his nomination as the party candidate for the post of Maharashtra assembly speaker, election for which, if required, will be held on July 3.
Giving a new poll slogan of 'Khel Zatlo' in Goa, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said an anti-BJP alliance has already taken shape in the coastal state under the banner of her party TMC and now it is for the Congress to decide whether it wants to join the grouping ahead of elections to take on the saffron outfit.
Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, whose party has extended crucial outside support to the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Maharashtra, on Monday said the decision was prompted by the need to avoid fresh elections but made it clear that the party will play the role of an effective opposition.
The court indicated that it was not inclined to allow the amendment and sought to know from Malik's lawyers if they wish to withdraw the petition and file a fresh plea.
NCP leaders Ajit Pawar, Chhagan Bhujbal, Congress leaders and former chief ministers Ashok Chavan, Prithviraj and former speakers Dilip Walse Patil (NCP) and Haribhau Bagade of the Bharatiya Janata Party were among the members to take oath early.
Ajit Pawar, nephew of NCP chief Sharad Pawar, had served as deputy chief minister for two truncated terms when the Congress-NCP was in power before 2014.
Eknath Shinde has been made chief minister to crush the Shiv Sena totally, completely, wholly, point out Sunil Gatade and Venkatesh Kesari.
The meeting came amid rumours that Shiv Sena is considering a patch-up with the Baratiya Janata Party, its ally of 35 years.
Members of the Legislative Council asked how some former legislators could enter the Vidhan Bhavan premises amid COVID-19-related restrictions and sought a report on the matter.
The Bombay high court will pronounce on Friday its order on two petitions filed by Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik and former state home minister Anil Deshmukh, both jailed Nationalist Congress Party legislators, seeking permission to cast their votes in the MLC elections scheduled on June 20.
Elections to the nine council seats which fell vacant on April 24 were postponed in view of the coronavirus outbreak, but last week the Election Commission set May 21 as the poll date.
Fadnavis said it is made to appear the border dispute has arisen only after the Shinde-led government came to power (in June this year).
A special court in Mumbai on Wednesday reserved till Thursday its order on the bail pleas of former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh and state minister Nawab Malik seeking the one-day relief to cast their votes in the June 10 Rajya Sabha elections.
Bharatiya Janata Party-backed independent candidate Sadabhau Khot and Nationalist Congress Party's Shivajrao Gajre on Monday withdrew their nominations for the Maharashtra Legislative Council polls, leaving 11 contestants in the fray for 10 seats as the state was set to witness another bitter fight between the BJP and the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) after the last week's cliffhanger in the Rajya Sabha polls.
Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Wednesday termed the Maharashtra governor's order asking the Uddhav Thackeray-led government to prove its majority in the assembly as "unlawful", saying that the Supreme Court is yet to decide on the disqualification of 16 rebel MLAs.
'For the Shiv Sena, Hindutva is like a shawl which can be put on and discarded at will.'
The Shiv Sena on Monday said it was not surprising to see the Bharatiya Janata Party winning the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker's election as the Sena was broken and 'someone from the party' was pitted against it.
Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Thursday left the Vidhan Bhavan premises without completing his address to the joint session of the state legislature amid slogan-shouting by legislators.
Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray's 2nd death anniversary on Monday saw BJP reaching out to Sena with a promise to construct a memorial befitting the leader's stature as it brought together the squabbling claimants to his legacy-son and successor Uddhav and nephew Raj of MNS.
Apart from Thackeray, Council Deputy Chairperson Neelam Gorhe (Shiv Sena), four candidates of the Bharatiya Janata Party -- Ranjitsinh Mohite Patil, Gopichand Padalkar, Praveen Datke and Ramesh Karad; Nationalist Congress Party's Shashikant Shinde and Amol Mitkari and Congress's Rajesh Rathod were in the fray for the nine seats, which fell vacant on April 24.
The Bombay high court on Friday rejected Maharashtra minister and Nationalist Congress Party leader Nawab Malik's petition seeking release from jail in Mumbai to enable him to cast his vote in the Rajya Sabha elections, polling for which is underway.
Now, irrespective of who supports whom, only a floor test in the assembly will decide if this government can continue or not.
Failure to get elected by May 28, ie within six months of taking oath as CM, would have resulted into a Constitutional crisis for the Thackeray-led government, which was averted after the Election Commission announced elections to the nine seats in the Council.
'Can we slip through the cracks in the alliance and use the situation to our advantage?'
Altogether 169 MLAs vote in favour of the motion of confidence, pro tem Speaker Dilip Walse Patil informed the House.
Shinde's counsel said that any delay in the floor test would cause more damage to the democratic polity.
The Maharashtra government will amend its agriculture law to protect farmers and Agriculture Produce Marketing Committees (APMCs) as the three central farm laws are not in the interest of agriculturists, state Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat said.
The 36 new ministers included 10 cabinet and four ministers of state (MoS) of the NCP, eight Cabinet and four MoS of the Sena, and eight Cabinet and two MoS of the Congress.
For the first time, non-upper castes are in a majority in the board, as the party continues with its outreach to traditionally weaker and backward sections of society.
In a jolt to the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance in Maharashtra, the Bharatiya Janata Party won four of the six seats in the state legislative council, including Nagpur, and wrested the Akola-Buldhana-Washim seat from the Shiv Sena.
The last Sena man to occupy the CM's chair was Narayan Rane in 1999, after Manohar Joshi, who in 1995 became the first Sena CM.
A day after Devendra Fadnavis was anointed chief minister-designate of Maharashtra, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday went into a huddle with top party leaders to discuss the future course of action but there were no signs of the party being in the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government for now.
In 1999 and 2004, government formation was delayed for over two weeks when the then victorious allies -- the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party -- could not agree on power-sharing arrangement quickly.
The Bombay High Court on Friday said the Maharashtra Governor has a "constitutional obligation" to either accept or reject "within reasonable time" the proposal sent by the state cabinet to nominate 12 persons as Members of the Legislative Council (MLCs).
The chief minister, who is currently not a member of either of the Houses of the state Legislature, submitted his nomination papers to the election officer in Mumbai.
Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari has asked the Maharashtra Legislature Secretary to hold a floor test of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government at 11 am on Thursday.
As back channel talks continued between Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party to explore the possibility of a coalition government in Maharashtra, there were strong indications on Saturday that the latter may form a government on its own with the Nationalist Congress Party's outside support in keeping with the "sentiment" in the party.
Describing Fadnavis as a friend, Thackeray also said he does not view him as opposition leader.
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