The tale of political drama in Maharashtra that has been played by the national and regional state political parties in attaining consensus and forming an alliance in the state to form a new government for the last one month has now reached the grounds of the Supreme court and the Parliament where on one hand, the country's top lawyers go on the ring of fire with heated arguments for the respective petitioners and on the other hand, the Congress party has been staging protests outside the Parliament in what the party described as the 'murder of democracy'.

On Saturday, with the view of challenging the oath administered by the Maharashtra governor on Saturday where BJP had tuned in fresh early morning twist after Devendra Fadnavis sworn in as the Chief Minister while NCP's Ajit Pawar took oath as Deputy Chief Minister and to conduct a trust vote, the tri parties Congress, Shiv Sena, and NCP had tabled its petition in the Supreme court by accusing the duo of misleading the governor and assumed their offices without having majority mark. 

The three justices bench comprising of Justices N V Ramana, Ashok Bhushan, and Sanjiv Khanna had taken the case for hearing on Sunday where the bench had directed the Central government to produce the two letters, through which the governor had consented to form a government, by 10.30 am on Monday and issued a notice to Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar. The leaders of the tri-party had claimed that the BJP doesn't have the support of all 54 MLAs of NCP.

Before the Supreme court resumes its hearing on Monday, Nawab Malik, the spokesperson of Sharad Pawar led Nationalist Congress party, has asserted that the party will be successful in forming a government and stated that 52 MLA's of the party have returned to the camp while one more remain in touch. He further added that Devendra Fadnavis must realize that he doesn't have a majority and claimed that if he fails to resign, the tri-party alliance will defeat the government in the trust vote in the state's legislative assembly. Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had today accused the BJP of disregarding the constitution in Maharashtra and repeating the game the party played in Karnataka.

After the hearing has begun on Monday, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who represents the Central government, has said that he has original copies of the letters which have the names of 105 BJP MLAs and the signs of support from Ajit Pawar and independent MLAs. He argued that no party has till date staked its claim to form a government and produced the letter by Ajit Pawar that was submitted to the state's governor dated November 22nd with the signatures of 54 NCP MLAs. He asserted that by having the support of NCP and independent MLAs, the government has the strength of 170 MLAs. Mukul Rohatgi, who appeared for Devendra Fadnavis has stated that the governor acted correctly and reasonably based on the material placed before him.

Senior Congress leader and Advocate Kabil Sibal, who represented Shiv Sena, has questioned the governor whether he can't wait for 24 hours and claimed that he has affidavits of 154 MLAs supporting for Shiv Sena, Congress, and NCP alliance and accused the BJP on denying to have floor test if the party has majority mark. Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who argued for NCP and Congress has said that by forming the government, BJP has committed fraud against democracy and stated that both sides of the aisle agree that the floor test is mandatory and cited that the BJP doesn't want the floor test quickly. After hearing the arguments from every petitioner, the Supreme court bench has pronounced that the final verdict will be delivered on Tuesday at 10.30 am.

During the hearings, the letter from Congress, NCP, and Shiv Sena has tabled at Raj Bhavan in Mumbai for the attention of the Governor to stake a claim in forming a majority government by underlining that the current BJP government doesn't have the required numbers. While the final verdict on the matter has been reserved by the Supreme court, the Congress party had staged protests outside the parliament where the Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi was one among the top leaders who voiced against the BJP over the political turmoil in Maharashtra. The leaders were raising slogans to stop the murder of democracy.

Also read: https://thenewstuff.in/political-standoff-deepens-oppositions-contort-confront-bjp