Explained: Supreme Court deliberation on Maharashtra politics, what is happening

On Sunday, the Supreme Court (SC) heard a petition filed by the Shiv Sena, Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) against the centre's move to end President's Rule in Maharashtra, and the Governor's move to invite Devendra Fadnavis to form a government.

Overnight, Fadnavis became the Chief Minister (CM) of the state while Ajit Pawar, of NCP, swore in as Deputy CM.

The Supreme Court issued notices to the Maharashtra government, state Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, his deputy Ajit Pawar and the Centre, asking for relevant documents and letters of support from MLAs by 10 am on November 25. No floor test was ordered on Sunday.

Ajit Pawar on Sunday updated his current designation of Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra on his Twitter bio. NCP chief Sharad Pawar has said that the decision of his nephew Ajit Pawar to align with BJP was against the party line and any MLA who aligns with him is likely to face anti-defection law.

What happened?

In October, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Shiv Sena, erstwhile allies, won an absolute majority in the Maharashtra assembly polls.

However, the alliance fell apart. Shiv Sena called upon the agreed upon terms of the alliance - a 50 per cent power-sharing demand and rotational chief ministership. BJP did not agree, as per reports.

On November 10, the governor, Bhagat Singh Koshyari, invited the Shiv Sena to form a government after BJP said they did not have the numbers to do so. Shiv Sena then looked to other parties for allies to form a government, which is where NCP and Congress come in.

Due to the inability of either party to form government, President's Rule was invoked in the state on November 12. According to the Indian constitution, in the event that a state government is unable to function according to constitutional provisions, the Central government can take direct control of the state machinery. In Maharashtra, the inability of the parties to form government was why this was invoked.

President's rule can be revoked at any time by the president and does not need the Parliament's approval. However, it does need a recommendation of the Union Cabinet to the President.

The basis for this revocation has been attributed to Rule 12 - this rule gives the Prime Minister to make the decision to revoke President's Rule without a Cabinet meeting or prior approval. His approval is treated as, in this case, approval of the Union Cabinet.

A dramatic weekend

On Friday, November 22, it was announced that the new alliance - Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress - expected Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray to head the government. There were reports of 'positive discussions' and a final decision was expected to be announced early Saturday.

In the wee hours of the morning on Saturday, November 23 - at 5.47am to be exact - President Ram Nath Kovind revoked President's Rule in the state through a notification that was signed by Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla.

According to reports, the governor then proceeded to allow BJP to stake a claim on governing the state based on the fact that they had numbers since Ajit Pawar of the NCP had allied with the BJP and said he had the support of 54 MLAs. However, media reports suggest that Pawar had asked the MLAs to sign a blank sheet of paper which purportedly was meant to support a candidate that had agreed upon by the alliance as CM. However, the MLAs reportedly did not know that the paper signed on was for an alliance with the BJP. 

The governor's order based on these reported claims is the one being questioned - if the BJP had no majority to form government in the first place, how did the governor allow the swearing in ceremony of a BJP candidate?

A couple of hours after the early morning notice from the President, BJP's Fadnavis and NCP's Ajit Pawar swore in as CM and deputy - reports claim that they reached the Raj Bhavan at 5.30am, minutes before the President's notification. Swearing-in ceremony started at 7.50am, and at 8.01am, the announcement was made: Fadnavis was Maharashtra Chief Minister for a second time.

Shiv Sena, NCP, Congress alliance asked Supreme Court for a floor test to disprove BJP's claim to the CM role. However, the court asked for letters to the Governor to be submitted on Monday, which can prove basis for his final order.

While there are reports that the Governor's order was conditional - Fadnavis would have to prove house majority by November 30 to continue being CM - there has been no officical public notification about it.

NCP deputy -  a family feud?

Ajit Pawar, the new deputy CM, is nephew to Sharad Pawar, the chief of Nationalist Congress Party - one of the parties now questioning the events in the state.

A Congress leader told IANS that the power feud in the Pawar family started showing signs during the Lok Sabha elections as Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule and nephew Ajit Pawar differed on ticket distribution in the state.

Citing some examples of the Pawar family feud, the Congress leader added that Ajit Pawar's son Parth Pawar was first denied a ticket in the Lok Sabha elections. But after some time, he was fielded from the Maval Parliamentary constituency from where he lost by a huge margin. On the other hand, Rohit Pawar, the grandson of Sharad Pawar, won in the Assembly elections from Karjat-Jamkhed.

After news broke that Ajit Pawar was deputy CM, Sharad Pawar distanced himself from his nephew's actions saying that the decision to ally with BJP's Fadnavis was personal and not the party's decision.

The court hearing

Solicitor general Tushar Mehta and senior advocate Rohatgi, appearing for some BJP MLAs, objected to the submission in petition that the political parties claiming violation of fundamental rights in the Supreme Court.

Justice Ashok Bhushan, however, countered this saying that is prerogative of the Chief Justice. The Governor's decision is not open to judicial review, Rohtagi said before the Supreme Court. But Congress insisted on floor test on Sunday or Monday.

The Supreme Court said it is not aware of the order of the Maharashtra Governor B.S. Koshyari over government formation in Maharashtra, as they deferred the hearing for Monday.

'Poaching' of MLAs

Since the efficacy of the current decision to have Fadnavis as CM depends on a majority support in the assembly,  there is, party leaders claim, a threat of "poaching"MLAs.

In this scenario, the NCP, Congress and Shiv Sena have shifted their legislators to different luxury hotels in Mumbai.

While the Congress moved its MLAs to the J W Marriott hotel in Juhu area, the NCP legislators were staying at The Renaissance hotel in Powai, sources said. Besides, the Shiv Sena MLAs are staying at The Lalit hotel located near the international airport here, they said.

The Congress legislators were earlier supposed to leave for Jaipur, but later decided to stay in Mumbai in view of the fast-paced political developments here, they added.

What next?

On Monday, the Supreme Court is set to review letters to the Governor to prove constitutional basis for the events that unfolded. NCP is reportedly trying to convince Ajit Pawar to resign his deputy CM role and return to the fold.

Meanwhile, parties are expected to lock horns as MLA support in numbers is key to both sides.

Senior Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut claimed that the NCP-Congress-Sena alliance has the support of 165 MLAs and added that the BJP does not have the required numbers to form the government in Maharashtra.

- Inputs from agencies