Maha Assembly Speaker election today; Shinde govt to face floor test on July 4

The election of the Speaker for the Maharashtra Assembly is set to take place on Sunday after the new Eknath Shinde government took over following the collapse of the Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA rule in the stateThe fourday old Shiv SenaBJP government will face the floor test on July 4 during the special twoday session of the Legislative AssemblyWith the return of the MLAs who echoed the revolt against Uddhav Thackeray along with their leader Shinde to Mumbai from Goa on Saturday night the stage is all set for political developments in Maharashtra to take place on the weekendIn the twoday special session of the Assembly beginning Sunday the ShindeFadnavis government will have to prove its majority on the Floor of the House on Monday in Vote of ConfidenceAlso read Will the real Shiv Sena please stand upNotably Shinde who led the revolt against Shiv Sena chief and former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray was sworn in as the Chief Minister while former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis who was seen as the frontrunner for the top post in the government was sworn in as Shindes DeputyNotably the MVA has fielded Shiv Sena MLA Rajan Salvi as a candidate for the Speaker election while BJP MLA Rahul Narwekar has been chosen as a candidate for the post of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly SpeakerShiv Sena has issued a whip to its legislators to be present in the Assembly today We have filed the nomination of Shiv Sena MLA Rajan Salvi Congress had the first claim but we sat down with Shiv Sena and NCP and this decision was taken together said Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat The post of the Speaker went vacant in the Assembly after Congress Nana Patole resigned from the office in February 2021 to take guard as the partys state unit chief In the absence of a Speaker Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal was playing the part of an acting Speaker in the HouseMeanwhile a day after the resignation of Thackeray from the chief ministerial post Shinde and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis met Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari and staked claim to form the government in the stateFadnavis who was Chief Minister of Maharashtra from 201419 announced at a joint press conference in Mumbai on Thursday that he will not be part of the government However later on the direction of the BJPs central leadership Fadnavis took oath as the Deputy CMThe Eknath Shinde camp which had stayed mostly in Guwahati during the revolt said that Congress and Nationalist Congress Party NCP are Shiv Senas traditional rivals They had earlier urged Uddhav Thackeray to stitch a natural alliance with the BJPThackeray resigned on Wednesday after the Shindeled group kept adding to its numbers and the Supreme Court gave a goahead for a floor test in the assembly BJP and Shiv Sena had fought the 2019 assembly polls together but differences cropped up over the post of Chief MinisterWith inputs from PTI ANI