MUMBAI: Amid the debate on whether deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar is the NCP’s whip or not, the legislature secretariat submitted on Monday that state NCP president Jayant Patil, and not Pawar, is the party’s chief whip, though BJP leader and Union minister Raosaheb Danve insisted that it’s Pawar.
About what’s in the legislature’s record, an official said, “We have received communication from NCP saying Patil has been appointed as the new leader of the NCP legislature party and that powers to issue whip have been entrusted to him.”
Elaborating on the procedure, the official said that once a whip is appointed, it is expected that the political party will communicate either to the speaker or the legislature secretariat on the appointment. “Ajit Pawar was appointed the NCP whip on October 30 (as per media reports), but there was no communication to the legislature secretariat,” the officials said.
Whip powers with Ajit or Jayant? BJP and NCP in war of words
On Monday, NCP informed the secretariat that Pawar had been sacked and Jayant Patil appointed in his place, and that Patil now has powers for issuing the whip. As such, for the legislature secretariat, Patil is NCP’s whip,” the officials said.
On the other hand, BJP’s Danve said that at a meeting of the NCP legislature party on October 30, Pawar was appointed leader of the NCP legislature party, and thus entrusted with the powers to issue whip: “…he was later removed, but, in our opinion, notwithstanding NCP’s decision, Ajit Pawar continues to lead the NCP legislature party and will have all powers to issue whip”. Danve said, “ (Ajit) Pawar’s whip will be binding on NCP legislators. There is absolutely no confusion.”
Former principal secretary (legislature secretariat) Anant Kalse said that prima facie, it appears that Jayant Patil will be the NCP whip and not Pawar, “who was appointed whip after NCP legislators passed a resolution on October 30”. “Now, it has been found that on Saturday, NCP removed Pawar and appointed Jayant Patil in his place. Under such circumstances, in my opinion, Patil is NCP whip,” Kalse said. NCP’s Nawab Malik said, “This is a non-issue. Once assembly convenes, if there are two whips, legislature secretary can recommend that the speaker should verify which whip is genuine. And the party can challenge the speaker’s decision if it doesn’t agree.”
Former Bombay high court Justice B H Marlapalle said Ajit Pawar’s list or letter of support becomes irrelevant as there was no pre-poll alliance of NCP with BJP and the governor had to be satisfied on the basis of actual verification of signatures of all 145 MLAs (needed for majority in state assembly) in support. “The key decision now is the appointment of a protem Speaker, who will decide the selection of Speak after administration of oath to all MLAs,” he said.
Several experts say that the floor test may decide the fate of government, but it won’t end the political imbroglio in the state once the antidefection law comes into play. This is because there is still no clarity as to which whip prevails — the one to be issued by the chief whip appointed by the (initial) leader of the legislature wing of NCP (Ajit Pawar) or the one that will come from the chief whip to be appointed by the head of NCP’s organisational wing (Sharad Pawar) — if the two are on different pages on voting for a particular alliance.
Though NCP claims to have removed Ajit Pawar from the post of leader of the party’s legislative wing, even this removal may come under legal scrutiny as there is no evidence of this decision being taken by MLAs collectively in any meeting which might have been convened for this purpose.
“As far as Maharashtra is concerned, Ajit Pawar has been removed from the post of NCP legislative party head. So, he cannot appoint party whip and it has to be decided by the NCP chief and newly appointed legislative party head,” said senior advocate Sanjay Hegde.
(Inputs: Priyanka Kakodkar and Swati Deshpande)
About what’s in the legislature’s record, an official said, “We have received communication from NCP saying Patil has been appointed as the new leader of the NCP legislature party and that powers to issue whip have been entrusted to him.”
Elaborating on the procedure, the official said that once a whip is appointed, it is expected that the political party will communicate either to the speaker or the legislature secretariat on the appointment. “Ajit Pawar was appointed the NCP whip on October 30 (as per media reports), but there was no communication to the legislature secretariat,” the officials said.
Whip powers with Ajit or Jayant? BJP and NCP in war of words
On Monday, NCP informed the secretariat that Pawar had been sacked and Jayant Patil appointed in his place, and that Patil now has powers for issuing the whip. As such, for the legislature secretariat, Patil is NCP’s whip,” the officials said.
On the other hand, BJP’s Danve said that at a meeting of the NCP legislature party on October 30, Pawar was appointed leader of the NCP legislature party, and thus entrusted with the powers to issue whip: “…he was later removed, but, in our opinion, notwithstanding NCP’s decision, Ajit Pawar continues to lead the NCP legislature party and will have all powers to issue whip”. Danve said, “ (Ajit) Pawar’s whip will be binding on NCP legislators. There is absolutely no confusion.”
Former principal secretary (legislature secretariat) Anant Kalse said that prima facie, it appears that Jayant Patil will be the NCP whip and not Pawar, “who was appointed whip after NCP legislators passed a resolution on October 30”. “Now, it has been found that on Saturday, NCP removed Pawar and appointed Jayant Patil in his place. Under such circumstances, in my opinion, Patil is NCP whip,” Kalse said. NCP’s Nawab Malik said, “This is a non-issue. Once assembly convenes, if there are two whips, legislature secretary can recommend that the speaker should verify which whip is genuine. And the party can challenge the speaker’s decision if it doesn’t agree.”
Former Bombay high court Justice B H Marlapalle said Ajit Pawar’s list or letter of support becomes irrelevant as there was no pre-poll alliance of NCP with BJP and the governor had to be satisfied on the basis of actual verification of signatures of all 145 MLAs (needed for majority in state assembly) in support. “The key decision now is the appointment of a protem Speaker, who will decide the selection of Speak after administration of oath to all MLAs,” he said.
Several experts say that the floor test may decide the fate of government, but it won’t end the political imbroglio in the state once the antidefection law comes into play. This is because there is still no clarity as to which whip prevails — the one to be issued by the chief whip appointed by the (initial) leader of the legislature wing of NCP (Ajit Pawar) or the one that will come from the chief whip to be appointed by the head of NCP’s organisational wing (Sharad Pawar) — if the two are on different pages on voting for a particular alliance.
Though NCP claims to have removed Ajit Pawar from the post of leader of the party’s legislative wing, even this removal may come under legal scrutiny as there is no evidence of this decision being taken by MLAs collectively in any meeting which might have been convened for this purpose.
“As far as Maharashtra is concerned, Ajit Pawar has been removed from the post of NCP legislative party head. So, he cannot appoint party whip and it has to be decided by the NCP chief and newly appointed legislative party head,” said senior advocate Sanjay Hegde.
(Inputs: Priyanka Kakodkar and Swati Deshpande)
source https://cvrnewsdirect.com/maharashtra-news-whip-powers-with-ajit-pawar-or-jayant-patil-bjp-and-ncp-in-war-of-words-india-news/
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