Uddhav resigned without facing floor test, Can't be restored:SC

Supreme Court refuses to restore MVA government in Maharashtra saying Uddhav Thackeray resigned voluntarily as Chief Minister of the state. The apex court said as r Thackeray did not face the floor test and tendered his resignation, hence the Governor was justified in administering the oath to  Eknath Shinde with the support of the largest party BJP. The apex court on Thursday was delivering its judgment in the case of the defection of 16 MLAs in June 2022 from the then Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena.The Thackeray faction had sought disqualification of the MLAs under the anti-defection law of the country. The Supreme Court also referred its 2016 judgment in the Nabam Rebia case to a larger bench. The verdict was delivered by a five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and comprised of Justices MR Shah, Krishna Murari, Hima Kohli and PS Narasimha. The five-judge bench delivered the judgment on a batch of cross-petitions filed by Uddhav Thackeray and chief minister Eknath Shinde factions on the Maharashtra political crisis.

Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said he was satisfied by the Supreme Court's verdict and called it a victory of democracy and the democratic process. Fadnavis asserted that the apex court's judgment held the Shiv Sena-BJP government legal and constitutional. The five-judge Constitution bench pulled up then Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari for calling a trust vote and held the Speaker's decision to appoint Bharat Gogawale of the Shinde faction as the whip of Shiv Sena “illegal”. “Today, Maha Vikas Aghadi's (MVA) conspiracy has been defeated. Now, no one should doubt that the Maharashtra government is completely legal,” said Fadnavis.Shinde hailed the judgment as a victory of truth and said the Speaker will decide on the merit of the disqualification petition submitted by both camps. The chief minister said the Uddhav camp had previously asserted that his government was unlawful and against the constitution, solely for their own satisfaction.

After the judgement, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray said that Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde and deputy CM Fadnavis should resign on moral grounds. "They (Shinde faction MLAs) betrayed my party and the legacy of my father. My resignation as the CM then may have been wrong legally, but I did it on moral grounds... How was I supposed to run a government with backstabbers," he said.