Oath of office administered two hours before Model Code of Conduct came into force; Opposition to challenge move in court
Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) leader Manisha Kayande being sworn in as a member of the Upper House on Tuesday. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi
The state government managed to appoint seven governor-nominated members of Legislative Council and administer the oath of office to them barely two hours before the Model Code of Conduct came into force for the Maharashtra elections on Tuesday, leaving the Opposition crying foul. The Shiv Sena (UBT) immediately challenged the government in the Bombay High Court, which had already reserved its order on a petition that had asked the governor to appoint 12 nominees that the MVA government had recommended four years ago.
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Shiv Sena’s petitioner Sunil Modi told the court that the government had made appointments. A bench comprising Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Amit Borkar asked if the names were from the old list that had been returned. The government replied that there was no stay on appointments and that the nominees were from a fresh list. The court took the details on record as per the petitioner’s request.
Ex-CM Uddhav Thackeray’s cabinet had sent a list of 12 persons seeking the then-governor’s approval for their appointment as MLCs. But the governor did not take any decision. The subsequent Eknath Shinde government withdrew the nominations, and sent a new list of only seven instead of 12, on Monday.
The governor accepted the Cabinet’s recommendations which included three from BJP and two each from the Shiv Sena (Shinde) and Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar). BJP’s state women’s wing chief Chitra Wagh, state general secretary Vikrant Patil and religious guru of Banjara community, Babusingh Maharaj Rathod were sworn in on Tuesday noon, along with Sena’s Hemant Patil and Manisha Kayande, and NCP’s Pankaj Bhujbal and Idris Naikwadi. The MLCs will be in the Upper House for the next six years.
Commenting on the nominations, state Congress president Nana Patole said the party and MVA will challenge the appointments. “What about the 12 the MVA had sent to the governor’s office? The then-governor didn’t act on our recommendations, but now when the case is pending in the court, he has nominated the MLCs. We will go to court,” he said. Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) leaders also said they would seek the court’s intervention.
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