The gone by state elections in Maharashtra has been one of a kind, never had we seen the four big guns of Maharashtra politics backing their own arsenal and going all out not even sparing their traditional allies. The BJP and the Shiv Sena, though having the same Hindutva ideology and being the more stable of the political partnerships over the years, have been separated as the seat sharing issue shook the very base of this alliance. On the other side the Congress and the NCP, both had anticipated and to an extent accepted beforehand that their paths were no longer the same. It could be argued as to which party was weighing the other one down, was it the anti incumbency, “sparing” the ally’s leaders in major corruption cases, maladministration, inactive and weak leadership of the Congress party or whether the NCP whose top brass were accused of various corruption and intimidation charges? In the end, the verdict which resulted their reign coming to a dead end was not surprising and unforeseen by both the NCP and the Congress
After a series of dramatic developments and ahead of its first hurdle, the Fadnavis led 13 days old government was likely to overcome and win its vote of confidence in the Maharashtra Assembly. Even though the BJP with its 122 seats was 22 short of majority there was a broad consensus in the political class that with the 41 member strong NCP deciding to abstain from voting these whole procedure would be a mere formality. What followed was almost unexpected and very much unanticipated to say the least by specially the Shiv Sena who have decided to sit in the opposition and the Prithivi Raj Chavan led Congress party. The NCP who we all believe to have an unofficial channel of dialogue with the BJP for obvious reasons were also left bewildered on how the whole trust vote procedure unfolded.
Labeling what route did the BJP took on the floor of the house to prove its majority as unconventional would be a huge understatement, though calling it unconstitutional would be extremely incorrect. Normally when this type of a motion is moved it is followed by a division of votes which are officially registered for the public to see clearly what stand is taken by all the participating parties and their candidates. The BJP government won the trust motion through a voice vote, following this the opposition parties cried foul and demanded for ballot voting or counting of head which was refused by the Speaker and the BJP. The loud and animated protests by all these parties couldn't sway the mind of Hon. Speaker Haribhau Begde in their favor and went out to tag this action of his as partial as the speaker of the house is expected to rise above his allegiances to any party and uphold the spirit of the house as per the Constitution.
All this didn’t go well with the opposing parties and the house proceedings were disrupted which resulted in adjournment of the house. As soon as the doors of the house were opened they all hurriedly latched on to any mike of media channels present outside the house to make bold statements and convey their stand and vent out their angst. Personally some of the words used were very bitter and said in haste which could have been avoided, “murder” & “death” of democracy was over the top. The decision however immoral and unconventional was not the first time that something like this had transpired. If they would be unconstitutional it wouldn’t have been allowed as Speaker had rightly pointed out that the laid down procedure had been followed and the claim of partiality was not valid.
Call it BJPs presence of mind or well planned strategy or the opposition absence of mind the event had taken place and the decision couldn't be overruled. When we refer to the rules we clearly see the case BJP and the speaker is trying to make, if any member had demanded the division of votes in between the trust vote or just after it the speaker has no choice but to do the needful. So, technically once the business or the particular activity is completed without any objections or hindrances it is officially done and it cannot be reverted. Having said that, it is also very much notable that this is really not the way to take a first step for a government who isn't in majority and have strained alliances or sworn enemies waiting for any slip up to take revenge. Certainly BJP could have achieved what it had set out to do without undermining their victory themselves, clearly they have not begun on the right foot and it looks a very tough road ahead when the winter session starts. The Congress has already clearly said that it won’t let the parliament function and knowing the Shiv Sena they won’t shy away from resorting to the same methods either. So, again in all these political battles and ego clashes clearly there is larger picture which goes unnoticed, this clearly was an opportunity missed for the new government to send out the right signals and being an example from the very beginning of the change the people of Maharashtra wish to see. The BJP’s “minority” government and its ambitious leader who is hell bent to bring great deal of changes/ reforms, aiming from the word go to improve or rectify the wrongdoings of the outgoing government have an uphill battle and even the most optimistic of men won’t give them a lot of chance to come out victorious.
In hindsight this should also be a lesson to the vociferous protesters of the opposition, they should also realize their own shortcoming of not being able to anticipate and not doing their homework. All possibilities should be evaluated and examined and cadres of the party must be instructed accordingly. The intricacies of these procedures should be well known to few if not by all members so they could act at the right moment and not just react later where there is no glimmer of hope. This is one of the main area where BJP's new leadership is clearly light years ahead of everyone at the moment. In a very cheeky manner they acquired both the objectives they desired, to form the government alone and maintaining a stand of never asking for any support, not publicly and officially accepting the support from the NCP which would have obviously hurt the party’s image or future prospects. Knowing the NCP quite well and learning from one or two lesson from the history of voting instances in 1978 and 1998, BJP were fully correct to suspect and disguise the “support” of a party who has been a fierce rival and who suddenly offered to “stabilize” their government in Maharashtra, especially when strong rumors of certain members turning against and for the BJP but not abstaining from voting started doing the rounds that early morning. Although it would be very interesting to see how would these two parties who left no stones unturned while attacking each other in the campaign prior to the elections. One thing is very clear though, the promises made by the BJP of bringing the leaders of the NCP especially in the open and investigating and indicting them would be a very hard thing to do as the switch button of the ventilator on which BJP government is “surviving” not living, lies with the party they claimed to be “National Corrupt Party”
After a series of dramatic developments and ahead of its first hurdle, the Fadnavis led 13 days old government was likely to overcome and win its vote of confidence in the Maharashtra Assembly. Even though the BJP with its 122 seats was 22 short of majority there was a broad consensus in the political class that with the 41 member strong NCP deciding to abstain from voting these whole procedure would be a mere formality. What followed was almost unexpected and very much unanticipated to say the least by specially the Shiv Sena who have decided to sit in the opposition and the Prithivi Raj Chavan led Congress party. The NCP who we all believe to have an unofficial channel of dialogue with the BJP for obvious reasons were also left bewildered on how the whole trust vote procedure unfolded.
Labeling what route did the BJP took on the floor of the house to prove its majority as unconventional would be a huge understatement, though calling it unconstitutional would be extremely incorrect. Normally when this type of a motion is moved it is followed by a division of votes which are officially registered for the public to see clearly what stand is taken by all the participating parties and their candidates. The BJP government won the trust motion through a voice vote, following this the opposition parties cried foul and demanded for ballot voting or counting of head which was refused by the Speaker and the BJP. The loud and animated protests by all these parties couldn't sway the mind of Hon. Speaker Haribhau Begde in their favor and went out to tag this action of his as partial as the speaker of the house is expected to rise above his allegiances to any party and uphold the spirit of the house as per the Constitution.
All this didn’t go well with the opposing parties and the house proceedings were disrupted which resulted in adjournment of the house. As soon as the doors of the house were opened they all hurriedly latched on to any mike of media channels present outside the house to make bold statements and convey their stand and vent out their angst. Personally some of the words used were very bitter and said in haste which could have been avoided, “murder” & “death” of democracy was over the top. The decision however immoral and unconventional was not the first time that something like this had transpired. If they would be unconstitutional it wouldn’t have been allowed as Speaker had rightly pointed out that the laid down procedure had been followed and the claim of partiality was not valid.
Call it BJPs presence of mind or well planned strategy or the opposition absence of mind the event had taken place and the decision couldn't be overruled. When we refer to the rules we clearly see the case BJP and the speaker is trying to make, if any member had demanded the division of votes in between the trust vote or just after it the speaker has no choice but to do the needful. So, technically once the business or the particular activity is completed without any objections or hindrances it is officially done and it cannot be reverted. Having said that, it is also very much notable that this is really not the way to take a first step for a government who isn't in majority and have strained alliances or sworn enemies waiting for any slip up to take revenge. Certainly BJP could have achieved what it had set out to do without undermining their victory themselves, clearly they have not begun on the right foot and it looks a very tough road ahead when the winter session starts. The Congress has already clearly said that it won’t let the parliament function and knowing the Shiv Sena they won’t shy away from resorting to the same methods either. So, again in all these political battles and ego clashes clearly there is larger picture which goes unnoticed, this clearly was an opportunity missed for the new government to send out the right signals and being an example from the very beginning of the change the people of Maharashtra wish to see. The BJP’s “minority” government and its ambitious leader who is hell bent to bring great deal of changes/ reforms, aiming from the word go to improve or rectify the wrongdoings of the outgoing government have an uphill battle and even the most optimistic of men won’t give them a lot of chance to come out victorious.
In hindsight this should also be a lesson to the vociferous protesters of the opposition, they should also realize their own shortcoming of not being able to anticipate and not doing their homework. All possibilities should be evaluated and examined and cadres of the party must be instructed accordingly. The intricacies of these procedures should be well known to few if not by all members so they could act at the right moment and not just react later where there is no glimmer of hope. This is one of the main area where BJP's new leadership is clearly light years ahead of everyone at the moment. In a very cheeky manner they acquired both the objectives they desired, to form the government alone and maintaining a stand of never asking for any support, not publicly and officially accepting the support from the NCP which would have obviously hurt the party’s image or future prospects. Knowing the NCP quite well and learning from one or two lesson from the history of voting instances in 1978 and 1998, BJP were fully correct to suspect and disguise the “support” of a party who has been a fierce rival and who suddenly offered to “stabilize” their government in Maharashtra, especially when strong rumors of certain members turning against and for the BJP but not abstaining from voting started doing the rounds that early morning. Although it would be very interesting to see how would these two parties who left no stones unturned while attacking each other in the campaign prior to the elections. One thing is very clear though, the promises made by the BJP of bringing the leaders of the NCP especially in the open and investigating and indicting them would be a very hard thing to do as the switch button of the ventilator on which BJP government is “surviving” not living, lies with the party they claimed to be “National Corrupt Party”
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