President's rule imposed in Maharashtra

President's rule has been imposed in Maharashtra. The state legislative assembly has been kept under suspended animation. This follows Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari's report to the Centre which stated that the formation of a stable government is impossible in the current situation despite all his efforts.

The development came as the political impasse lingered on for  19 days after the assembly election results were declared. Congress and the NCP said that they have not yet taken any decision on Shiv Sena's proposal of forming a government and will hold further discussions. The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi considered the Governor's report to the President.

The governor noted that he made attempts to explore the possibility of formation of government by having appropriate communications with all political parties which could have formed the government in alliance with other



political parties, but they have not succeeded.

In the assembly polls held last month, the BJP won 105 seats, followed by the Shiv Sena, 56, the NCP-54 and the Congress, 44 in the 288-member House. Despite their alliance getting a majority, the BJP and the Shiv Sen parted ways following disagreement over powersharing with the Sena insisting on the chief minister's post.

Shiv Sena, which was trying to cobble together a non-BJP government with support from the NCP and the Congress, moved the Supreme Court challenging the governor's decision to not grant it the three days to submit the letter of support for government formation in the state but failed to get an urgent hearing.

The Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala hit out at the governor and the  Centre alleging they had trampled upon constitutional practices with their actions.