Maharashtra Politics case: Read about 8-day long hearing before Supreme Court in the Eknath Shinde-Uddhav Thackeray battle

A Constitution bench of the Supreme Court will pronounce its verdict on Thursday in the case in a batch of petitions concerning the Maharashtra political crisis of last year, which culminated in Eknath Shinde taking over as Chief Minister from Uddhav Thackeray following a split in the Shiv Sena..A five-judge Constitution Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud and Justices MR Shah, Krishna Murari, Hima Kohli and P S Narasimha had reserved its verdict in the matter on March 16 after hearing the matter for 8 days.Below is our coverage of the hearing..Day 1: How can Governor enter into political arena and argue on formation of government? The constitution bench took exception to Maharashtra Governor commenting on formation of government in the State during the course of his arguments before the top court in the case between Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde factions of Shiv Sena.Read story here..Day 2: Supreme Court reserves verdict on reference to larger bench for re-examining Nabam Rebia judgmentThe Court reserved its verdict on the question of whether the matter should be referred to a larger bench to reconsider the Court's 2016 judgment in Nabam Rebia v. Deputy SpeakerRead story here..Day 3: Supreme Court says issue of reference to larger bench to reexamine Nabam Rebia will be decided along with meritsThe Court held that the request for reference of the case concerning the 2022 Maharashtra political crisis to a larger bench so as to re-examine the apex court's 2016 judgment in Nabam Rebia v. Deputy Speaker, will be heard along with the merits of the case and not separately.It, therefore, proceeded to continue hearing the matter.Read story here..Day 4: Can we restore the earlier speaker and invalidate a trust vote which never took place? The Supreme Court expressed reservations about the extent to which it can turn back the clock opining that it might not be possible to restore the earlier speaker to decide on decide on disqualification petitions of MLAs of Eknath Shinde camp or invalidate the trust vote which never took place (since Uddhav Thackeray resigned before the trust vote was held).Read story here..Day 5: If Governor starts intervening in a sitting house, should elected government face trust vote?The Court said that the letter written by the Governor of Maharashtra in June 2022 asking then Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to undergo a floor test to prove his majority in the State assembly, had lot of extraneous and irrelevant grounds.Read story here..Day 6: Should Governor have invited Eknath Shinde to form government or BJP? The Court asked whether it was correct of the Governor to invite Eknath Shinde to form the government in June 2022 instead of the leader of the single largest party in the Maharashtra assembly, BJP.Read story here. .Day 7: Supreme Court says concerned by Governor's actions; discontent with party leader not ground to order floor testThe apex court said that the ex-Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari's actions in calling for a floor test which led to the fall of the Uddhav Thackeray government, raises serious concerns regarding exercise of powers by the Governor .Read story here..Day 8: Supreme Court asks whether it can reinstate CM who resigned; reserves verdictOn the final day of the hearing, the top court wondered, "What happens if we come to the conclusion and say that exercise of power by the Governor was not correct? What happens - does Uddhav Thackeray becomes CM? But he resigned no? It is like the Court being told that reinstate a government which has resigned."Read story here.