Eknath Shinde proves majority in Maharashtra Assembly
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde proved his government’s majority in the Assembly today.
This caps two weeks of political surprises that split the Shiv Sena and brought down the Uddhav Thackeray government.
Aaditya Thackeray, son of Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, voted against the whip issued by the Shiv Sena chief whip Bharat Gogawale, appointed last night, and may face disqualification proceedings.
While Eknath Shinde camp received 164 votes, the Opposition camp got 99. Interestingly, the Opposition got 107 votes in the election for Speaker yesterday. While one switched to the Shinde camp, several MLAs did not show up for the vote.
Congress’ Vijay Wadettiwar, Zeeshan Siddiqui and Dheeraj Deshmukh did not show up today, and former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan reached after the vote. NCP’s Sangram Jagtap was missing too. All four were present yesterday.
Samajwadi Party’s Abu Azmi and Rais Shaikh, and AIMIM’s Shah Farukh Anwar abstained from voting.