Shinde should have no trouble in clinching today’s trust vote
The BJP-led alliance on Sunday succeeded in having its nominee and first-time MLA Rahul Narwekar elected as the Speaker of the Maharashtra Assembly, thus giving a clear indication that new Chief Minister Eknath Shinde should have little difficulty in clinching the confidence vote on Monday.
Given the comfortable manner in which the BJP’s Narwekar trounced Rajan Salvi of the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) by a margin of 57 votes, it became amply clear that Shinde will have smooth sailing in the confidence vote scheduled for Monday.
In the Speaker’s election, of the 271 total votes, Narwekar secured 164 votes, while Salvi managed to get 107. Of the 17 MLAs who did not take part in the election, one MLA has passed away, two are in the Enforcement Directorate’s custody, and three abstained from voting.
The remaining 11 MLAs did not make it to the State Assembly for various reasons, including illness.
Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal announced the election of Narwekar as the new Speaker amid cheers from the Treasury Benches. Later, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, NCP leader Ajit Pawar, State Congress president Nana Patole and other senior leaders of various political parties, escorted Narwekar to the prestigious Speaker’s chair.
The Speaker’s election had been necessitated to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Nana Patole of the Congress as the Speaker on February 4, 2021.
Patole had resigned from the post to engage himself in the party’s organisational work. The post had remained vacant for the last 17 months.