Sena's Sunil Prabhu issues whip to cadre to vote for Rajan Salvi as Maha Assembly Speaker

In a key development in connection with the election for Speaker of the Maharashtra Assembly, Shiv Sena Chief Whip Sunil Parabh has issued a directive and has instructed all the members to remain present in the House and vote in favour of Shiv Sena candidate Rajan Salvi. 

The Shiv Sena on Saturday July 2, fielded party MLA Rajan Salvi as its candidate for the post of the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker. Thus, the three-time legislator from the Rajapur seat will be pitted against BJP's Rahul Narwekar who was elected to the Assembly for the first time in 2019. 

Sena Legislative Party leader Ajay Chaudhary, Congress Legislative Party leader Balasaheb Thorat and NCP Legislative Party leader Jayant Patil were present on the occasion when Salvi filed his nomination at the Vidhan Bhavan. 

CM Eknath Shinde confident of victory in election of Speaker

The Maharashtra CM exuded confidence in a comfortable victory in the Speaker’s election slated for July 3 and said that the government will win the vote of confidence on July 4. 

"170 MLAs are with us. Trust vote is just a formality. We are the real Shiv Sainiks. We will work on the ideology of Balasaheb & the issue of Hindutva. We are committed to working for the development of the state,’’ said CM Eknath Shinde.

Election for Speaker of Maharashtra Assembly

The post of Assembly Speaker has been vacant since February 4, 2021, when Nana Patole resigned to become the Maharashtra Congress president. On December 27 last year, Uddhav Thackeray had written to Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari seeking his approval to conduct the election of the Assembly Speaker.

In response, Koshyari contended that the holding of this election appears prima facie unconstitutional as the rules had been amended to allow open voting instead of a secret ballot. 

Expressing pain at the alleged "intemperate tone" of Thackeray's letter, he argued that it had belittled and denigrated the constitutional office of the Governor. The latter wrote, "I have never questioned the prerogative of the House in the matter of its procedure/proceedings. However, I cannot be pressurised to give consent to a process which prima facie appears to be unconstitutional and illegal as enshrined in the Article 208 of the Constitution." Subsequently, the MVA deferred its move to hold the Speaker's election. 

However, the Governor allowed this poll to go ahead on July 3 after the Eknath Shinde-led government was sworn in. 

(With inputs from ANI)

Image: Facebook/@RAJAN SALVI, Twitter/@PRABHU_SUNEEL