sc on maharashtra political crisis, how do we reinstate a CM who resigned before the floor test… Supreme Court’s question to Uddhav Thackeray questions uddhav thackeray

Singhvi said that everything falls. While the bench on which everything falls would be simple, Singhvi insisted that this is the core question and urged the court to allow him to present his case. The Chief Justice further asked, ‘Then according to you do we restore the Uddhav Thackeray government? But you resigned. When Singhvi said that Thackeray’s resignation and not facing a trust vote was irrelevant, the CJI said, “That is, the court is being asked to restore a government (which has resigned).”

To this, Singhvi said that it is a laudable way of looking at it, but it is irrelevant. Give us a chance to explain our argument. At this juncture, Justice Shah said, ‘How can the court reinstate a Chief Minister who did not even face the floor test? Singhvi said that the court is not reinstating anyone but restoring the status quo.

The Chief Justice further asked Singhvi, “But it would be a logical thing if you lose the vote of confidence on the floor of the assembly.” Obviously, then you would have been thrown out of power because of a trust vote which is rejected..watch this intellectual puzzle that it is not that you will be thrown out of power because of a wrongly called trust vote by the Governor Has been done. You did not choose, for whatever reason you could not face the trust vote.

The bench further said, ‘So you are saying that Uddhav Thackeray resigned only because he was called by the Governor to face the trust vote?’ The CJI then asked Singhvi, “You are clearly accepting the fact that you resigned because the trust vote was going to go against you.” Singhvi replied that this was an illegal act and the consequences were known to his client. The top court heard the arguments made by both the Thackeray and Shinde groups and the governor’s office and concluded the hearing after senior advocates Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Devdutt Kamat and advocate Amit Anand Tiwari presented their arguments.

The Shinde group was represented by senior advocates Niraj Kishan Kaul, Harish Salve, Mahesh Jethmalani and advocate Abhikalp Pratap Singh. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta represented the Governor’s office in the matter. The hearing of the case began on February 21. On June 29, 2022, the apex court refused to stay the Governor’s direction to hold a floor test to the Maha Vikas Aghadi government led by Thackeray, who resigned sensing defeat. This paved the way for the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance to come to power under the leadership of Shinde in Maharashtra.