Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde wins floor test, proves majority in Assembly

As predicted by several political experts, newly appointed Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has emerged victorious in the floor test conducted in the state Assembly today, July 4. Shinde has thus proved his majority in the state and will continue with his newly formed government.

Eknath Shinde, who has recently formed a government in Maharashtra by making joining hands with BJP in a new alliance, has emerged victorious in a trust vote against the Shiv Sena. According to the count, the Shinde government won the vote with a major majority.

In the 288-member House, 164 MLAs voted for the motion of confidence, while 99 voted against it. Speaker Rahul Narvekar announced that the trust vote has been carried by a majority vote.

After the death of a Shiv Sena MLA recently, the current strength of the Assembly is reduced to 287, thus the majority mark is 144. Shinde was sworn in as CM, a day after Uddhav Thackeray quit the post. BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis was sworn in as the deputy CM.

This is the second big legislative victory for the Shinde government – sworn in on June 30 along with Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis – in the past two days.

On Sunday, the alliance candidate and BJP advocate Rahul Narwekar was elected the new Speaker, trouncing the Maha Vikas Alliance’s Shiv Sena nominee Rajan Salvi with a comfortable margin.

As per reports, Aaditya Thackeray, who is the son of former Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray, voted against the order issued by the new Shiv Sena whip Bharat Gogawale. Because of this move, it is likely that Thackeray might face disqualification.