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Maharashtra

Govt lost majority, should Governor wait for floor test, SC asks Shiv Sena counsel

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 The Supreme Court on Wednesday queried Shiv Sena Chief Whip Sunil Prabhu that if a government has lost majority in the house, and the Speaker of the Assembly is asked to disqualify those who have withdrawn support, should the Governor wait for a floor test?

Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing Prabhu, contended before a vacation bench of Justices Surya Kant and J.B. Pardiwala that the Governor is bound to act on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers.

He added that the Governor may act on the advice of ministers or not, but definitely cannot act on the advice of the opposition. Singhvi said if the rebel MLAs are allowed to vote on Thursday, then the court would be permitting voting by MLAs who could be disqualified later, which goes to the root of democratic principles.

At this, the bench queried Singhvi that suppose a government knows that they have lost the majority in the House, and the Speaker is asked to issue disqualification notices to those withdrawing support. Then at that point, should the Governor wait for calling a floor test or can he independently decide, it asked.

“What should the Governor do? Can he exercise his discretion?”

Singhvi added that the resolution sent to the Speaker was rejected as the authenticity could not be verified, as the communication was sent from unverified email. He asked how can the Governor, who just recovered from Covid, after a meeting with the Leader of Opposition, ask for a floor test the next day? Will it not blow the 10th Schedule (anti-defection law) to smithereens?

Singhvi added that the people who have changed sides cannot represent the will of the people. He said, “Will heavens fall if there is no floor test tomorrow?”

During the hearing, the bench queried suppose there are two situations, one where the Speaker has passed an order and it is lying pending before the court in judicial review, and in the other situation, the Speaker has passed this order and someone has moved the top court challenging the competence of the Speaker.

The bench said as far as disqualification is concerned, “it is before us, we can decide it either way but how does the disqualification affect the floor test?”

The hearing in the matter is in progress.

Prabhu, in his plea, termed the Maharashtra Governor’s direction to the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government to take a floor test and prove its majority on Thursday (June 30) illegal, as he didn’t take into account the Deputy Speaker’s disqualification notices to 16 rebel MLAs.

It contended that the top court is considering the validity of the disqualification proceedings and has kept the matter for hearing on July 11, and the issue of disqualification is directly connected/interlinked with the issue of floor test.

“The Governor has also not bothered about the pendency of disqualification petitions nor has he taken into consideration that this court, while being seized of writ petitions challenging the issuance of notice by the Deputy Speaker has, vide order dated June 27, issued notice and directed the matter to be listed on July 11 for further consideration,” said the plea.

Maharashtra

Maharashtra: Abu Asim Azmi presents bill in the House against religious hatred and blasphemy, application of MCOCA and UAPA also included in the draft bill

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Mumbai: Nagpur Samajwadi Party leader and MLA Abu Asim Azmi presented a private bill in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly against those who spread blasphemy and religious hatred. The bill demands action against hate elements and calls for action under MCOCA and UAPA against those who spread religious hatred, in addition to ten years of imprisonment and a bail of Rs 2 lakh so that sectarians do not get bail and such cases of spreading religious hatred are banned. He told the House that there has been an increase in cases of blasphemy in the country and in such a situation, tension arises in the country. Action should be taken against such elements to maintain law and order. This will be possible only when action is taken against such sectarians who promote a hate agenda under the guise of freedom of expression. He said that the Supreme Court had also issued an order for strict action against hate elements and miscreants and has banned inflammatory and hate speech. In such a situation, Maharashtra The bill has been formally introduced in the House to take action against those who spread religious hatred and incite hatred against important people. The draft bill proposes to register a case against communalists under the section of the MCOCA UAPA, which carries a maximum sentence of ten years, so that such elements cannot be granted bail.

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Maharashtra

Mumbai fuel theft gang busted, 13 accused arreste, The gang of thieves had attempted to steal fuel in November

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Mumbai: Police claims to have busted a petrol theft gang. The accused were arrested for attempting to steal petrol from BPCL company on November 14 at around 3:30 am under the limits of RCF police station in Mumbai. A complaint was registered for attempting to steal fuel from the underground 18-inch Mumbai Manmade Multi-Product pipeline on Mumbai Gadkari Road. Vinod Devchand Pandit was arrested from Chembur on November 17 on the basis of technical investigation and information from an informant. His investigation revealed that the mastermind of this racket, Riaz Ahmed Ayub (59), Salim Mohammad Ali, Vinod Devchand Pandit had hatched a plan to steal fuel. 13 accused including Gopal Narayan, Mohammad Irfan, Vinay Shashikant, Ahmed Khan Juman Khan, Nishan Jagdish, Mustafa Manzoor, Nasir Shaukat, Imtiaz Asif have been arrested. All these accused have been arrested from various areas. Their arrests were made from Mumbai, Navi Mumbai and surrounding areas. This operation was carried out by Additional Commissioner Mahesh Patil and DCP Sameer Sheikh on the instructions of Mumbai Police Commissioner Deven Bharti.

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Maharashtra

Vasai-Virar Faces 50,000 Duplicate Entries In Voter Roll; Voters Asked To Choose Single Booth

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Virar: More than 50,000 duplicate voters have been found in the Vasai-Virar city area. The Municipal Corporation has published a list of these voters on its website. The Corporation has appealed to those whose names appear in duplicate to visit and vote at any one polling center of their choice and inform the Corporation of their decision in advance.

More than 50,000 duplicate voters were found in the draft voter lists published by the Vasai-Virar Municipal Corporation. This large number of duplicate entries has created a major conundrum. To resolve this issue, the Election Commission has allowed voters with duplicate names to cast their vote at any single designated polling center.

Accordingly, the Vasai-Virar Municipal Corporation has published the list of 50,000 duplicate voters on the municipal website. Municipal Commissioner Manoj Kumar Suryawanshi has appealed to these voters to check their names, select one polling center, and vote there.

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