The special three-day Maharashtra assembly session of the lower house of the state legislature began in Mumbai on a sombre note on Saturday.
MLAs of the ruling Mahayuti parties including Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and his deputies Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar, took oath as members of the assembly.
However, there was no cheer on the faces of MLAs of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) comprising the Congress, Shiv Sena (Udhhav Bal Thackeray) and NCP (Sharad Pawar) as they decided not to take the oath in protest against the alleged misuse of electronic voting machines (EVMs) during the recently conducted 2024 Maharashtra assembly elections.
The MVA opposition also protested against the curfew and arrests at the Markadwadi village of the Malshiras assembly constituency in Solapur, where villagers had attempted a mock repoll using ballot papers and ballot boxes.
“We boycotted the oath-taking ceremony today as democracy is being murdered by the use of EVMs. This poll result is not the mandate of the public. It is the mandate of EVMs and the Election Commission of India. We are not taking oath considering the doubts that people have in their mind,” Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray told media persons at the Vidhan Bhavan.
However, the Mahayuti parties lost no time in criticising the MVA protest. Shinde’s Sena leader Manisha Kayande called the MVA protest a childish move. “The Speaker of the Assembly will be elected through ballot papers and then they might demand electronic machines. If this keeps happening, there will be no government formed anywhere in the country”.
Ajit Pawar-led NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal also stated that MVA opposition leaders simply cannot refuse to take the oath, “If they have to participate in the business of the house, they will have to take oath,” Bhujbal said.
Even sharper was Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and NCP chief Ajit Pawar’s reaction to Aaditya Thackeray’s allegations. “There is no point in making such allegations here. They (the MVA opposition) should go to the Election Commission of India and if they do not get justice there, they should approach the court,” newly sworn-in MLA from Baramati assembly constituency Ajit Pawar said.
Earlier on Saturday, the three-day special session of the newly formed Maharashtra Assembly commenced and it was presided over by pro-tem Speaker Kalidas Kolambkar who supervised newly elected MLAs taking their oaths.
CM Fadnavis also took his oath as the MLA representing the Nagpur South-West Assembly constituency. As his name was called out by pro-tem Speaker Kalidas Kolambkar, he was greeted by members of the treasury benches by thumping their desks and raising slogans like “Jai Shri Ram” and “Jai Bhavani, Jai Shivaji”.
Deputy CM Eknath Shinde was also greeted with similar chanting og slogans with BJP’s Ashish Shelar, Girish Mahajan and Ravindra Chavan, thumping their desks as he took his oath as an MLA.
Deputy CM and NCP-leader Ajit Pawar sported a traditional red Maharashtrian ‘pheta’ (head gear) with a gold coloured border as he took his oath as MLA representing the Baramati assembly seat while his party members chanted “Ekach Dada, Ajit Dada” which means “there’s only one big brother and that is our Ajit Dada”.
Former assembly speakers Dilip Walse-Patil, Rahul Narwekar, former deputy speaker Narhari Zhirwal, senior Ajit Pawar-led NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal, BJP leaders Vijaykumar Gavit, Girish Mahajan also took oath as MLAs.
Of the 200 MLAs, 190 took their oath in Marathi. Seven MLAs, all from the BJP including Fadnavis confidante Girish Mahajan, Seema Hire, Prashant Thakur, Sudhir Gadgil, Nitesh Rane, Pratap Adsad and Ram Kadam, took their oaths in Sanskrit.
Samajwadi Party’s Abu Azmi took oath in Hindi, while Mufti Mohammad Khalique of the All India Majlis e Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) took his oath in Urdu, while NCP leader Hasan Mushrif took his oath with an invocation to Allah.
Meanwhile, it is learnt that the election of the Speaker of the Maharashtra assembly has been scheduled for December 9, which will be followed by a trust vote for the newly-formed government and the Governor’s address to both Houses.
It is also learnt that the forthcoming winter session of the Maharashtra legislature is scheduled to begin in Nagpur, which is Maharashtra’s second capital, on December 16.