Produce Fadnavis letter claiming legislators’ support: Supreme Court to Centre.

Source – www.livemint.com

NEW DELHI : The Supreme Court on Sunday directed the Union government to submit by Monday morning Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis’s letter to the state governor claiming support of legislators, as well as the governor’s letter inviting him to form the government. A three-judge bench signalled it may issue an order on the same day.

The bench headed by Justice N.V. Ramana and comprising Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice Sanjiv Khanna rejected the government counsel’s plea for more time. Senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Manu Singhvi appeared for Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi appeared for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and “some” independent legislators, while solicitor general Tushar Mehta appeared for the Union government.

Late on Friday, the Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP had finalized their coalition with Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray as chief minister, and decided to meet the governor on Saturday; however, before the alliance could make its move, Fadnavis claimed majority support, following which President’s rule was lifted, and the oath of office administered to him and Ajit Pawar early on Saturday morning. The other parties quickly moved the Supreme Court, and sought a floor test within 24 hours to prove majority.

Both sides—BJP-Ajit Pawar combine and Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress alliance—have expressed confidence over having the numbers in the assembly. However, the NCP tacitly admitted to the rift in the party when it told the court it has support of 41 out of its 54 MLAs.

Solicitor general Mehta argued that political parties do not have fundamental right to equality before law under Article 14 as mentioned in the petitions and the parties should have approached the Bombay high court before approaching the Supreme Court.

Rohatgi argued that actions of the governor are immune to any punitive action from the court under Article 361 of the Constitution. He also stated the decision of the governor under the exercise of his powers of his office are not open to judicial review.

Statements from the Pawar family on Sunday evening signalled a deepening rift. “I am in the NCP and shall always be in the NCP and @PawarSpeaks Saheb is our leader,” Ajit Pawar tweeted, adding the ‘BJP-NCP alliance’ will provide a ‘stable’ government in Maharashtra. His uncle and NCP founder Sharad Pawar was quick to rebut. “Shri Ajit Pawar’s statement is false and misleading in order to create confusion and false perception among the people,” he tweeted.

Sunday witnessed key political stakeholders—BJP, Ajit Pawar, Shiv Sena, Congress and Sharad Pawar-led NCP—in meetings to take stock and chart their course of action. While Fadnavis met BJP MLAs, Thackeray and Sharad Pawar held a joint meeting.

While the BJP welcomed the SC’s directive claiming that it has numbers as Ajit Pawar can issue whip to NCP legislators, the NCP said the swearing-in was based on ‘bogus documents’ and will not stand the floor test.