Mumbai: The Shiv Sena Tuesday moved the Supreme Court against Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari’s decision to decline extension of time sought by the Uddhav Thackeray-led party to prove its claim to form a government on Monday night.
In its petition, the Sena contested the “arbitrary, unconstitutional, unreasonable, capricious and malafide” decision of the Governor. Koshyari had rejected the party’s request for three days to submit letters of support to prove its majority to form the government.
Sena leaders had met Koshyari ahead of the 7:30pm deadline on Monday to stake claim to form a government. However, after it failed to submit the letters of support, the governor invited the NCP, the third largest party in the 288-member Assembly with 54 MLAs, to “express ability and willingness” to stake claim to form government.
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Sena leaders said the governor had granted 72-hours to the BJP, the single largest party with 105 MLAs, to stake claim to form a government. The BJP on Sunday declined to form a government for want of numbers.
“The Sena could not submit the requisite letter of support. The Sena further submitted a letter requesting three-day extension of the deadline (which ended 7.30 pm on Monday) for submitting the letter of support.
“The governor expressed his inability to give any further extension,” a Raj Bhavan statement had said.
Meanwhile, the union cabinet cleared the imposition of President’s Rule in Maharashtra, about five hours before the expiry of the Governor’s deadline given to Sharad Pawar’s NCP to prove its ability to form government.
This came after Governor Bhagat Singh Koshiyari sent a report to the President on the political situation in Maharashtra.
(With inputs from PTI)
Also read: Cabinet clears President’s Rule in Maharashtra before NCP deadline expires