Bharatiya Janata Party legislator Rahul Narwekar was elected as Speaker of the new Maharashtra Assembly unopposed on Monday. This is Narwekar's consecutive second term as speaker of the house.
Congratulating Narwekar, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said he is the second member of the lower house to be re-elected to the post since the state's formation in 1960. Narwekar filed his nomination papers for the election on Sunday. He was elected unopposed as the opposition alliance Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) decided not to contest.
During his previous tenure, Narwekar ruled that the Shiv Sena faction led by Eknath Shinde was legitimate and real Sena. He also ruled in favour of the Ajit Pawar-led faction of the Nationalist Congress Party when it split from Sharad Pawar-led party.
The Devendra Fadnavis-led government faced a trust vote in the assembly on Monday. The Mahayuti alliance which won the assembly polls by a landslide sailed through the trust vote. Shiv Sena MLA Uday Samant and a few other legislators tabled the trust motion and it was passed by a voice vote.
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The BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP 'Mahayuti' coalition has a majority of 230 seats in the 288-member state assembly. The majority mark in the assembly is 144. The opposition MVA alliance could win only less than 50 seats.
Fadnavis was sworn in as the chief minister for the third time on December 5. Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar took oath as deputy chief ministers at the ceremony attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Mumbai.
