Will have to put in extra hours to hear disqualification pleas: Maharashtra speaker Rahul Narwekar

Maharashtra assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar. File Pic

Maharashtra assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar on Thursday said that he would need to put in extra hours to hear disqualification pleas while ensuring smooth functioning of the House, reported news agency PTI.

The Winter Session of the state legislature is scheduled to be held in Nagpur from December 7 to December 20.

Speaking to reporters in Nagpur, Rahul Narwekar said, "I need to ensure the smooth functioning of the legislative assembly as well as complete the disqualification hearings pending before me. It looks like I will be working from 9 am to 10 pm in this period to give justice to both responsibilities," reported PTI.

Rahul Narwekar is hearing cross-petitions filed by the rival Shiv Sena factions seeking disqualification of each other's MLAs following a split in the party last year, reported PTI.

Narwekar said he would hear the petitions on Thursday for two and a half hours at the Vidhan Bhavan in Nagpur, reported PTI.

The speaker said it would be a challenging task for him to pay attention to both hearings as well as smooth functioning of the House, reported PTI.

The Shiv Sena (UBT) is seeking disqualification of Shinde-led 40 rebel MLAs who revolted against Thackeray, which not only led to the collapse of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in June 2022, but also caused a split in the 57-year-old party, reported PTI.

The Shinde camp has alleged that the documents based on which the Thackeray-led group has been seeking disqualification of their rival MLAs are "fake", reported PTI.

The Supreme Court has asked the speaker to decide on the disqualification petitions by December 31, reported PTI.

Earlier, Maharashtra assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar on November 27 said the Eknath Shinde-led government is stable and enjoys the majority support in the Lower House of the state legislature.

Narwekar asserted he will take a decision on disqualification petitions filed by rival Shiv Sena factions within the Supreme Court-set time frame, reported PTI.

He slammed Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut for making statements questioning stability of the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party-NCP (Ajit Pawar faction) government, saying it has the "magic" number on its side.

Asked by reporters about Raut's consistent claim that the ruling coalition is unstable, Narwekar said, "A government falls only when it fails the number game in the legislative assembly and not because of comments made outside in public. The state government has the magic number (support of 145-plus MLAs). People should not make such comments."

The Maharashtra assembly has a strength of 288 and support of at least 145 MLAs is required by a party or coalition to form a government.

(With inputs from PTI)