Devendra Fadnavis Devendra Gangadharrao Fadnavis (Marathi pronunciation: ��ेवेंद्र फडणवीस born 22 July 1970) is an Indian politician serving as the 9th and current Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra since 30 June 2022. He served as ...

was sworn in as the

chief minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

for the second time on 23 November 2019. Alongside Fadnavis,

Ajit Pawar Ajit Anantrao Pawar (Marathi pronunciation: �d͡ʒit̪ pəʋaːɾ born 22 July 1959) is an Indian politician. He is the Leader of the Opposition in Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, and was the 8th Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra in his ...

was sworn in as the

deputy chief minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...

. Before a

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

-ordered

no confidence motion A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...

could take place, Pawar resigned on 26 November. Fadnavis resigned shortly thereafter, making his second ministry the shortest Maharashtra ministry, surpassing

P. K. Sawant Parashuram Krishnaji Sawant (also known as Balasaheb Sawant) (9 January 1905 - 29 October 2000) was an Indian politician. He served as interim Chief Minister of Maharashtra from 25 November 1963 to 4 December 1963, in an interim capacity for n ...

's 1963 interim government, that had lasted for nine days.

Government formation

In 2019 Maharashtra elections, the ruling

National Democratic Alliance National Democratic Alliance (NDA) () is a Centre-right politics, centre-right to Right-wing politics, right-wing and Conservatism, conservative Indian big tent political alliance led by the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It was foun ...

, consisting of Fadnavis'

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

Shiv Sena Shiv Sena ( IAST: ''Śiva Sēnā'') () was a right-wing to far-right Marathi regionalist and Hindu ultranationalist political party in India founded in 1966 by cartoonist Bal Thackeray. Originally emerging from nativist movements in Bom ...

, and other smaller parties, won a majority of seats. Fadnavis was seeking a second-term as chief minister, however, Shiv Sena insisted that the two parties share the tenure in accordance with a "''50:50 formula''". This meant that the parties would hold the chief ministerial office on a rotational basis. Following failure to reach an agreement and to form a government, Fadnavis resigned. As the

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Bhagat Singh Koshiyari Bhagat Singh Koshyari (born 17 June 1942) is an Indian politician serving as the 22nd and current Governor of Maharashtra from 5 September 2019. An RSS veteran, Koshyari served as National Vice-President of BJP and party's 1st State president fo ...

found out, after consultation with major political parties, that none of them was in a position to form a government,

President's rule In India, President's rule is the suspension of state government and imposition of direct Union government rule in a state. Under Article 356 of the Constitution of India, if a state government is unable to function according to Constitutional ...

was imposed in the state. After Fadnavis' resignation, it was expected that

would form a

coalition government A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...

with

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

and

Nationalist Congress Party The Nationalist Congress Party ( NCP) is one of the nine national parties in India. The party generally supports Indian nationalism and Gandhian secularism. It is the largest opposition party in Maharashtra and is also a significant party in ...

. However, in early hours of 23 November 2019, President's rule was revoked and Fadnavis took oath as chief minister, alongside Pawar, who was sworn in as deputy chief minister.

Political crisis and resignation

Nationalist Congress Party chief and Ajit Pawar's uncle, Sharad Pawar, announced after the swearing-in, that Ajit Pawar's decision to join Fadnavis' ministry was not endorsed by his party. It was initially unclear if any other Nationalist Congress legislators were supportive of Ajit Pawar's decision. Eleven legislators were present at the early morning swearing in, however, three of them had clarified in a press conference on the same day that they had been misled. Two days later, on 25 November, 162 legislators (

Maharashtra Assembly The Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha or the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly is the lower house of the legislature of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is situated in the Nariman Point area of South Mumbai in the capital Mumbai. Presently, 288 memb ...

has a total strength of 288), met in Mumbai, evincing that Fadnavis' government did not enjoy majority support. Simultaneously, a plea had been filed before the

regarding the political crisis in the state. On 26 November 2016, the Supreme Court ruled that the Fadnavis government must prove its majority in the Assembly on the next day. Pawar resigned as deputy chief minister shortly thereafter, followed by Fadnavis. Two days later, on 28 November,

Uddhav Thackeray Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray (Marathi pronunciation: d̪ʱːəʋ ʈʰaːkɾeː born 27 July 1960) is an Indian politician who served as the 19th Chief Minister of Maharashtra from 2019 to 2022. He was also the president of Shiv Sena prior to ...

was appointed the chief minister, leading a

coalition A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

Council of ministers

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Devendra Fadnavis Second ministry Bharatiya Janata Party state ministries 2019 establishments in Maharashtra 2019 in Indian politics Fadnavis 02 Republican Party of India (Athawale) Nationalist Congress Party 2019 disestablishments in India Cabinets established in 2019 Cabinets disestablished in 2019