President's rule imposed in Maharashtra after parties fail to stake claim

Mumbai, Nov 12: Maharashtra was placed under President's Rule on Tuesday after none of the three parties BJP, Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) failed to produce enough numbers to stake claim to form the government even after almost three weeks since the election results came out.

President Ramnath Kovind has decided to impose President's rule in Maharashtra based on the recommendation of Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari.

"Maharashtra Governor was of the view that it has been 15 days since the conclusion of electoral process and none of the political parties are in the position to form a govt in the state; President's Rule is a better option, a statement from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said.

The President's Rule has been implemented for six months but can be withdrawn anytime before it.

The Governor had earlier given the NCP time till 8.30 pm today to prove it has the numbers after the Sena on Monday failed to get letters of support from its political rivals before the deadline set by the Governor came to an end.

The Congress hit out at Maharashtra Governor for recommending President's rule in the state, alleging that he has committed a "grave travesty" and made a "mockery" of the Constitutional process.

The Shiv Sena on Tuesday moved the Supreme Court challenging the Maharashtra governor's decision of not granting it the three days to submit the letter of support for government formation in the state.

The lawyers, appearing for the Shiv Sena, told PTI that they have made a request to the registrar for according urgent hearing on Tuesday itself and they are yet to get a response.

The Shiv Sena has sought a direction from the apex court to quash the governor's Monday decision not giving it the opportunity to prove majority on the floor of the House.

In a petition, filed through advocate Sunil Fernandes, the party claimed it was invited to form government on Monday and had indicated willingness to do so on Tuesday. The governor's decision is unconstitutional, discriminatory, unreasonable, capricious and mala fide, the party said in the plea, adding that "the governor can't act in a manner to only suit the majority political party" at the Centre or act on the central government's "diktats".

"The petitioners are constrained to move the writ petition under Article 32 of the Constitution seeking urgent reliefs against the arbitrary and mala fide actions of the Maharashtra governor who in hot haste has on November 11 refused to grant even three days time to the petitioner to demonstrate that it has the requisite majority to form government in the state," according to the plea.

In the petition, the Sena contended that the governor's decision was violative of articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution.