Uddhav Thackeray's name proposed for Council vacancy

With all elections postponed in the wake of pandemic COVID-19, the Maha Vikas Aghadi government on Wednesday passed a resolution urging governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari to nominate chief minister Uddhav Thackeray as a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council.

A special Cabinet meeting presided over by deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar passed the unanimous resolution of the three Maha Vikas Aghadi allies – Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress.

Thackeray, however, was not present in the meeting, on grounds of propriety and political ethics, as his name was to be proposed for the nomination from the two vacant seats from the governor's quota.

"The chief minister was not present at today’s cabinet meeting which was presided over by the deputy chief minister for the resolution to recommend Thackeray's name for Council membership... this was to done to avoid any kind of Constitutional crisis at this stage," minority affairs minister and NCP chief spokesperson Nawab Malik said.

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, a period of six months.

From the beginning, 59-year-old Uddhav had two options - either be member or Assembly or Council. Uddhav had preferred the route to Upper House. But, now, there is a peculiar situation.

Because of pandemic COVID-19 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. Two Council seats from the Governor's quota are vacant - as Ramrao Wadkute and Rahul Narvekar had resigned.

There were speculations that Thackeray may have to resign ahead of May 28 and sworn in again as the chief minister. But, its 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 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.

The MVA does not want to take bay chances of legal wrangles and Constitutional crisis and decided to get Thackeray elected from the governor's quota.