Maharashtra Assembly special session adjourned till December 8; 173 MLAs took oath today

Pic/Sameer Abdedi

The Maharashtra Assembly special session which began on Saturday has been adjouned till December 8 and a total of 173 newly elected MLAs took oath of office Dec 7 before the assembly was adjourned for the day, the ANI reported.

The Akhilesh Yadav-led Samajwadi Party (SP) MLAs Abu Azmi and Raees Sheikh took their oath of office today, despite objections from the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance.

Meanwhile, the remaining 115 MLAs, mainly part of the opposition, are yet to take their oaths.

This comes in response following Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray's announcement that the party's elected MLAs will not take the oath of office on Saturday during the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly's ongoing special session, ANI reported.

Thackeray questioned the legitimacy of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs).

"Today we have decided that our (Shiv Sena UBT) winning MLAs will not take the oath. If this was the mandate of the people, people would have been happy and celebrated it. However, there was no such celebration or enthusiasm from the public. We have doubts about EVM," Aaditya Thackeray said, ANI cited.

Shiv Sena UBT leader Aaditya Thackeray, along with party workers, paid homage to Shivaji Maharaj at the Vidhan Bhavan complex.

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and NCP chief Ajit Pawar, responded to Shiv Sena UBT Aaditya Thackeray's allegations about the legitimacy of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), saying that if the opposition has problems, it should appeach the Election Commission or the courts.

"There is no point in making such allegations here. They (the opposition) should go to the Election Commission and if they do not get justice there, they should approach the court," said the newly sworn-in MLA Ajit Pawar, ANI cited.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Ministers Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar took oath as members of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly on Saturday, ANI reported.

On the first day of the Maharashtra Assembly special session, CM Fadnavis, DCMs Shinde and Pawar earlier this morning paid tribute to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj at the Vidhan Bhavan complex in Mumbai.

As per ANI, Senior BJP MLA Kalidas Sulochana Kolambkar was sworn in as the Assembly's pro-tem Speaker by Maharashtra Governor CP Radhakrishnan on Friday, one day before the three-day special session begins.

Devendra Fadnavis took aoth as Maharashtra Chief Minister for the third time in an event held in Mumbai's Azad Maidan on Thursday, attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, other alliance leaders, and celebrities from various fields. Deputy Chief Ministers Ajit Pawar and Eknath Shinde also took oaths on the occasion.

The Maharashtra Elections 2024 saw a landslide victory for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Mahayuti alliance, winning with 230 seats. The results marked a significant milestone for the BJP, which rose as the single-largest party with 132 seats.

The Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party secured, with 57 and 41 seats, respectively.

The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) suffered a loss with Congress winning just 16 seats. Its alliance partner, Shiv Sena (UBT), won 20 seats, while the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) secured only 10 seats, ANI reported.

(With Inputs from ANI)