Congress, NCP, Sena combine seeks immediate floor test in Maharashtra, SC to rule today

Rohatgi maintained that “the Governor has ordered reasonably” and “the Governor in the first instance acted correctly” by swearing in Fadnavis as Chief Minister and NCP leader Ajit Pawar as Deputy Chief Minister. On behalf of Fadnavis, Rohatgi said the timing and modalities for the floor test should be left to the House.

The bench said that ultimately the test has to be on the floor of the House.

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Agreeing, Rohatgi said even if the post-poll coalition has not taken shape, there has to be a floor test. “But the question was whether the petition should be allowed at all, given that it had no substance… Their attack on the Governor was completely unfounded,” he said, adding that allowing the petition would mean people rushing to the court every 10 days when something or the other happens in the House. The decision, he said, has to be left to the Speaker.

Appearing for the Secretary to the Governor and the Centre, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said the court should allow more time to file replies. On why the Governor had not ordered an immediate floor test, he said the Governor “probably wanted to test whether the welding (between the Sena, NCP and Congress) would last”. He said “giving directions to the Governor would have serious consequences for the future”.

Intervening, Justice Khanna pointed out that in all similar cases before the court in the past “floor test was agreed upon by all parties and held within 24 hours… The majority is decided on the floor of the House, not by the Governor.”

Mehta asked “under which law can the court monitor the proceedings of the House” and said this was barred under the Constitution.

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Referring to the Sena parting ways with the BJP post poll, Mehta said “it was a case of the entire stable running away”. This invited a quick response from senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Shiv Sena, who said that while he did not want to get into polemics, “this is a case where the jockey has run away and the horses are still there”.

Agreeing with Mehta, Rohatgi said “giving directions to the Governor is a matter fraught with serious consequences”.

Sibal opposed this and said he had the affidavits of 154 MLAs offering support to the Sena-NCP-Congress combine. “If they (BJP plus) have the majority, why don’t they face the floor test,” he asked.

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Appearing for NCP and Congress, senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi too countered the plea for more time to file a reply and said “we are happy to lose on the floor of the House. The proof of the pudding lies in the eating… You don’t want an early floor test and we know why”.

On Sunday, the court had asked Tushar Mehta to produce Fadnavis’s letter and the communication by the Governor inviting him to form the government.

Submitting the letters to the bench, Mehta said it mentioned the letters of support dated October 31 from 11 independent MLAs and the letter of support from Ajit Pawar dated November 22 with signatures of all 54 NCP MLAs.

162 members of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) of Shiv Sena with NCP and Congress, along with their leaders during headcount in Hayat hotel in Santacruz. (Express photo: Prashant Nadkar)

Ajit Pawar’s letter said the MLAs had authorised him to take a decision, and for the purposes of a stable government, “we” have decided to support Fadnavis and join the government under him, Mehta said. “It was on the basis of this letter… that the Governor decided to invite Fadnavis… Governor does not have to go on a fishing and roving enquiry… He has no reason to disbelieve this letter”.

Justice Bhushan, after perusing the letter, observed that “the letter containing the MLAs’ signatures don’t say they are extending support to anyone”.

At this, Singhvi said “your Lordships have asked a very pertinent question to which they have no answer”. “Has a single MLA said we are with Ajit Pawar to form government?… Like Nelson, Governor says we will not look at the other…. will look only at unaddressed letter… it is a fraud on democracy,” Singhvi said, and alleged that the signatures of NCP MLAs electing Ajit Pawar as leader of their legislature party was used to show support to Fadnavis.

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“You are too clever by half by using signatures electing Ajit Pawar as leader of NCP legislature party to show support,” he said.

Repeating that the petitioners had the affidavits of 154 MLAs including 48 NCP MLAs who had said they were not with Ajit Pawar, Singhvi said he would file it in court.

The bench, however, said these are matters to be decided on the floor of the House, following which Singhvi said he will not file it. He said he was only bringing it to the notice of the court “to try and shock the conscience of the court… isn’t this reason enough to order a floor test today?”

Sibal questioned the Governor revoking President’s Rule in the wee hours on November 23 and swearing in Fadnavis the same morning. “What was the national emergency… If he had waited for so many days, could he not have waited for 24 hours,” he said, adding it was to “pre-empt” the Sena-NCP-Congress alliance which had announced Uddhav Thackeray as its Chief Minister candidate on November 22 evening.

Appearing for Ajit Pawar, senior advocate Maninder Singh said he had been authorised by the NCP MLAs to take the appropriate decision “Their writ petition makes it clear that I am the NCP. There is nothing to the contrary even today”. He said no one had challenged his letter of support as fraudulent, and that if there was nothing legally wrong in the letter, nothing survives in the petition. Pawar urged the court to tell the petitioners that it “will not allow leapfrogging” and they should approach the High Court.