As the battle for Maharashtra moves from the state assembly to the apex court, with a ruling expected on Tuesday, certain things are abundantly clear. The most important of these is that the state has scripted several new chapters in political depravity in the past few weeks, even as all its leaders shamelessly claim to have acted out of concern for poor farmers.

The verdict in the election was indubitably in favour of the pre-poll alliance that the Bhartiya Janata Party had formed with the Shiv Sena; but equally the verdict assured a dignified place for the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party alliance in the assembly. Despite having been ideological bedfellows for a quarter of a century, the BJP and the Sena fell apart on the question of who would be Chief Minister and for how long.

Promises were alleged to have been broken and words were exchanged but the overarching lust for power was on naked display even as both parties claimed how important it was for them to helm government in order to work for the cause of farmers. For days thereafter and even as the state was put under President’s Rule, the Congress and the NCP grappled with the idea of forsaking ideology out of concern for the beleaguered farmer before finally announcing they would team up with the Sena.

Just when they had collectively put their consciences to sleep and decided to back a government headed by Mr Uddhav Thackeray of the Sena, the BJP fetched up at the Governor’s House with the NCP’s Ajit Pawar in tow. At an unearthly dawn hour, President’s Rule was revoked; the Governor, Mr Bhagat Singh Koshiari, decided to swear in Mr Devendra Fadnavis as Chief Minister and Mr Ajit Pawar as his deputy.

Before butter could be spread on the breakfast toast, Maharashtra had a government, one that had been given a generous 14 days to prove its strength on the floor of the House. Legislators of three parties are said to be ensconced in different hotels, presumably to be protected from the lure of opponents. The NCP claims the letter of support Mr Pawar produced before the Governor was misused; an outmanoeuvred Sena says democracy has been murdered and a bewildered Congress watches helplessly, unsure of whether its crafty ally, Mr Sharad Pawar, has been hoodwinked by his nephew or is part of an elaborate plot to hoodwink those he now calls his allies.

The apex court is required to decide if the time given by the unabashedly partisan Governor is too generous. More important, it is asked to decide whether a floor test should be held immediately so that the time available for persuading MLAs to jump ship is curtailed. Whatever be the outcome, one thing is clear. First in Karnataka, and now in Maharashtra, the Indian political class is determined to strengthen the case for NOTA to be made a more potent alternative. On the evidence, none of the above is fit to rule.