Shiv Sena's petition unlikely to be mentioned in SC today

The Supreme Court today might not hear the plea filed by Shiv Sena challenging Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari's decision of denying extra time to form the government in Maharashtra.

Advocate Sunil Fernandes, representing Shiv Sena in the apex court, said, "No mentioning of yesterday's petition. We are not filing a fresh petition in the Supreme Court on behalf of Shiv Sena today. The decision on when to file it has not been taken yet."

Sena had filed the petition against Koshyari's decision of not giving them three days' extra time to prove its ability to form the government in Maharashtra.

Meanwhile, President's Rule has been imposed in Maharashtra after President Ram Nath Kovind gave his approval to the requisite notification.

The petition said that the Governor worked in "hot haste" on Monday in refusing to "grant even three days time to the petitioner to demonstrate that it has the requisite majority to form the government in Maharashtra".

The party, in its petition, said that the BJP used "the Governor's office in an attempt to prevent it from forming the government".

Shiv Sena, through its plea, said that as per the constitutional conventions and practice, the Governor is duty-bound to allow a reasonable time for political parties to conclude their negotiation on government formation and not act as an agent or mouthpiece of the central government.

"It is submitted that the instant is a classic case where these constitutional conventions which have the force of law have been followed by the Governor in sheer breach," it said.

BJP, which emerged as the single-largest party in Maharashtra assembly polls with 105 seats, declined to form the government following differences with Shiv Sena on sharing power.

Shiv Sena-led by Uddhav Thackeray after winning 56 seats had emerged as the second-largest party in last month's Maharashtra assembly elections, after the BJP.

The majority mark in the 288-member Maharashtra assembly is 145. The NCP has 54 MLAs in the state assembly while the Congress has 44.