Taking oath was necessary to raise people's issues: NCP (SP) leader Rohit Pawar

After opposition legislators took their oaths on Sunday during the Maharashtra Assemblyrsquos special session following an initial boycott on Saturday Nationalist Congress Party SP leader Rohit Pawar emphasised that taking the oath was necessary to raise peoplersquos issues during the session and prevent those in power from unilaterally imposing their willNotably a total of 280 of the total 288 Members of Legislative Assembly MLA have taken their oaths so far A few MLAs missed the oath owing to personal reasons but they can take it tomorrow or at a later date in the Speakerrsquos chamber a source from the Maharashtra legislature saidThis development comes after 115 MLAs largely from the opposition refused to take their oaths on Saturday as a symbolic protest against doubts regarding the legitimacy of the poll results news agency ANI reportedSamajwadi Party SP MLAs Abu Azmi and Raees Sheikh however took their oaths of office on Saturday despite opposition from the Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA allianceldquoYesterdayrsquos protest was symbolic If we had not taken the oath today how could we have raised peoplersquos issues in the session Otherwise those in power could do whatever they wantedrdquo Rohit Pawar said on Sunday according to ANINCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal downplayed the oppositionrsquos boycott of the oathtaking ceremony at the Maharashtra Assemblyrsquos special session stating that the oathtaking ceremony typically spans two days He implied that the opposition MLAs decision to take the oath a day later was not a significant issueNot taking oath yesterday and taking it today is doublestandard politics Shiv Sena leaderldquoThe oathtaking ceremony anyway goes on for two days So they the opposition MLAs took the oath today instead of yesterdayrdquo he said according to ANIShiv Sena leader Uday Samant criticised the opposition accusing them of ldquodoublestandard politicsrdquo Samant asserted that because of this behaviour from the opposition alliance the people of Maharashtra had given their mandate to the Mahayuti allianceSpeaking to ANI Samant said ldquoNot taking the oath as MLAs yesterday and taking it today is doublestandard politics The people of Maharashtra know this and thatrsquos why the voters of the state gave their mandate to MahayutirdquoEarlier on Saturday Shiv Sena UBT leader Aaditya Thackeray announced that the partyrsquos winning MLAs would not take the oath of office raising doubts about the legitimacy of Electronic Voting Machines EVMsldquoToday we have decided that our Shiv Sena UBT winning MLAs will not take the oath If this was the mandate of the people they would have been happy and celebrated it However there was no such celebration or enthusiasm from the public We have doubts about EVMsrdquo Aaditya Thackeray said on SaturdayNotably MVA alliance partners have been questioning the legitimacy of EVMs following their setback in the Maharashtra Assembly Election 2024Approach EC if you have concerns Ajit Pawar to MVAMaharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and NCP chief Ajit Pawar responded to Aaditya Thackerayrsquos allegations about the legitimacy of Electronic Voting Machines EVMs stating that the opposition should approach the Election Commission or the courts if they had concernsldquoThere 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 courtrdquo said newly swornin MLA Ajit PawarMaharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Ministers Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar took their oaths as members of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly on SaturdaySenior BJP MLA Kalidas Sulochana Kolambkar was sworn in as the protem Speaker of the Assembly by Maharashtra Governor CP Radhakrishnan on Friday a day before the start of the threeday special session of the AssemblyDevendra Fadnavis took his oath as Maharashtra Chief Minister for the third time in an event held in Mumbai on Thursday attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with several leaders of the alliance and celebrities from various fields Deputy Chief Ministers Ajit Pawar and Eknath Shinde also took their oaths during the occasionThe Maharashtra Assembly Election 2024 witnessed a decisive victory for the Bharatiya Janata Party BJPled Mahayuti alliance securing a landslide win with 235 seats The Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party also made notable gains with 57 and 41 seats respectivelyThe Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA suffered a major setback with Congress winning just 16 seats Its alliance partner Shiv Sena UBT won 20 seats while the NCP Sharad Pawar faction secured only 10 seatsWith ANI inputs