Floor test of CM Devendra Fadnavis in Maharashtra Assembly today

Mumbai: Mr Fadnavis, who appealed for unanimous support to the BJP candidate for Speaker, later met the Congress leaders and also held talks with the NCP, sources said.

The voting will begin 11 am, and will be through a secret ballot and not by a show of hands or voice vote. “If one of the candidates polls more votes than polled together by the other two, the one with the highest votes gets elected. Otherwise, the candidate with least votes is eliminated and there is another round,” principal secretary (legislature) Anant Kalse told the media in Mumbai.

It may be recalled that of the 288 MLAs, 286 members have taken the oath in the past two days. The BJP’s Govind Rathod passed away some time ago, while Surupsing Naik of the Congress, who was not present in the House for the past two days, is yet to take the oath.

The BJP, which seems to have called the Sena’s bluff in both the pre-poll and post-poll scenario, has made it clear that there will be “no Cabinet expansion before the trust vote”, which too will be held on Wednesday. While the BJP is confident of winning the trust vote with the “unconditional support” of the NCP, the party seems somewhat concerned about the role NCP may play in the Speaker’s election.

This could be tricky as no party can push through its candidate without outside support. Some feel that the BJP in Maharashtra is sitting pretty with 138 MLAs, just seven short of a majority in the 288-member House. The other three (the Shiv Sena, NCP and the  Congress) will have to join hands to push through any one of their candidates.

The Sena, being the second largest party after the BJP, on Monday had staked claim to the post of Leader of the Opposition. It is yet to announce if it will vote against the government during the floor test. State Congress president Manikrao Thakre told the media that he had spoken to his NCP counterpart Sunil Tatkare, seeking support for Mr Gaikwad.

While the BJP is pushing for unanimous support for its Speaker candidate, the party made it clear it “welcomes the support of all parties, except the Congress, for the development of the state”. Union minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy, said, “The BJP will welcome the support of all parties except the Congress, which is responsible for the mess, so that the government can work for the development of  the state.”