Former Maharashtra chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray lost the floor test against the incumbent chief minister Eknath Shinde with a margin of 164-99 votes. The Shinde-Fadnavis government raked in 164 votes, as per India Today. 

Bahujan Vikas Aghadi, which supported the Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), also voted in favour of the Shinde government. Two MLAs of the Uddhav Thackeray camp – Santosh Bangar and Shyamsundar Shinde—joined the Shinde faction just before the trust vote. 

99 votes were polled against the ruling government whereas Samajwadi Party’s Abu Azmi and Raees Shaikh and AIMIM MLA Shah Tarikh Anwar absatained from voting. 

Soon after the floor test, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said, “I am thankful to the MLAs for their massive support to the Shinde government. Shinde is a loyal Shiv Sainik. He is loyal to Balasaheb’s ideology.”

Meanwhile, the Shinde camp and the BJP secured a big win on Sunday with the election of BJP’s Rahul Narvekar as the Speaker of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly defeating Shiv Sena candidate Rajan Salvi. 

Fadnavis was quoted as saying by news agency ANI, “The youngest speaker candidate won the speaker election with 164 votes today as 2 MLAs couldn’t come due to health issues. We would prove our majority with 164 votes in the vote of confidence.”

Earlier, Shiv Sena leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut said that the party was ready to dump allies Congress and NCP if the rebels return to the party fold. The claims were seen as a desperate bid by the Shiv Sena leader to save the party which was facing a massive split.

At present, the BJP is 106 MLAs strong in the 288-member Maharashtra assembly whereas Shinde is leading 39 rebel Shiv Sena MLAs and independents. After the death of a Shiv Sena MLA, current strength of the Assembly stands at 287 and the majority mark stands at 144.  

Image courtesy: ANI/Twitter