Maharashtra: Eknath Shinde's government to face Vote of Confidence on July 4

Mumbai: The newly formed Eknath Shinde's government in Maharashtra will face a Vote of Confidence on July 4, to prove its majority in the State Assembly.

The Special Session of the Maharashtra Assembly will be held on July 3 and 4.
On July 2 the nomination for Speaker's election will be filed and on July 3 Speaker's election will be held. Furthermore, on July 4 Vote of Confidence will be taken.

The post of Speaker is vacant following Congress MLA Nana Patole's resignation last year.
Eknath Shinde, who took oath as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra on Thursday evening, was asked to prove his majority by Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshiyari.

Earlier, the Maharashtra Cabinet has decided to call a special session of the state assembly for two days-- July 2 and July 3.

Shinde, who claims to have the support of 40 rebel Shiv Sena MLAs led a revolt against the Uddhav Thackeray-led party leading to the collapse of the 31-month-old Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.

A day after the resignation of Thackeray from the chief ministerial post, Shinde and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis met Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari and staked claim to form the government in the state which was in the grip of political chaos for more than a week.

Fadnavis, who was Chief Minister of Maharashtra from 2014-19, announced at a joint press conference in Mumbai on Thursday that he will not be part of the government. However, later on the directions of the BJP's central leadership, Fadnavis took oath as the Deputy CM.

The Eknath Shinde camp, which had stayed mostly in Guwahati during the revolt, said that Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) are Shiv Sena's traditional rivals. They had earlier urged Uddhav Thackeray to stitch a "natural alliance" with the BJP.

Thackeray resigned on Wednesday after the Shinde-led group kept adding to its numbers and the Supreme Court gave a go-ahead for a floor test in the assembly.

BJP and Shiv Sena had fought the 2019 assembly polls together but differences cropped up over the post of Chief Minister.

"In 2019, BJP and Shiv Sena had an alliance and we got the required numbers in Assembly elections. We hoped to form the government but Shiv Sena chose to get into an alliance with those against whom Balasaheb protested throughout his life. Shiv Sena insulted the mandate of the people," Fadnavis said. (ANI)