Ex-Minister moves HC challenging Maha govt's legitimacy

Former Maharashtra Minister Mohammed Arif Naseem Khan today moved the Bombay High Court challenging formation of Fadnavis government, contending that it had failed to prove majority support in the Assembly.
The petition was mentioned by advocate B A Desai before a bench headed by Justice V M Kanade. The court decided to hear it on November 28.
Three public interest litigations on the issue are already pending before the division bench headed by Chief Justice Mohit Shah.
Khan, a Congress MLA, has contended that a party which does not possess a simple majority by itself cannot form a government without establishing that it had support of adequate number of MLAs through division of votes in the Assembly.

Speaker Haribhau Bagade called for a voice vote on BJP government's trust motion on November 12 instead of the normal practice of division (actual counting) of votes, Khan's writ petition submitted.
The Supreme Court has held in the past that floor test is mandatory, it said, terming the Speaker's action as fundamental violation of the Constitution and basic principles of the parliamentary governance.
It sought a direction from the court to the Chief Minister and ministers to quit the office.