Uddhav Thackeray to take Council route

Maharashtra is witnessing a never-seen-before kind of a political situation.

Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray was sworn in the Maharashtra Chief Minister on November 28, 2018.

Uddhav, who is the unanimous leader of the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress Maha Vikas Aghadi government, is not a legislator and needs to get elected by May 28, 2020.

From beginning, the 59-year-old Uddhav had two options - either be a member of the Assembly or Council. Uddhav had preferred the route to the Upper House.

But now, there is a peculiar situation.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak and need for social distancing, the Election Commission of India, last week, deferred elections to nine seats of the Maharashtra Legislative Council.

Nine members of the Council, for which the electoral college is Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, are retiring on April 24, 2020.

But MVA leaders are not worried. And they refuse to share any details.

There are some immediate solutions. Two Council seats from the Governor's quota are vacant as Ramrao Wadkute and Rahul Narvekar had resigned.

If Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari gives his assent, Thackeray could continue. Both were associated with NCP and it would not be a problem for the Sharad Pawar-led NCP to give the seat to Shiv Sena.

In another scenario, Thackeray resigns ahead of May 28 and is sworn in again as the CM. But, it’s a tricky process as in the event of resignation of the head of government, the council of ministers is dissolved automatically. This has to be a smooth 24-hour operation as the BJP will leave no stones unturned to topple the government.

As per Article 164 (4) of the Constitution, a minister, who is not a member of either Houses, will cease to be a minister on expiry of six months. However, there are various interpretation and judgements on the article.