Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde Wins Trust Vote

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde wins the trust vote in the state legislative assembly by a 164-99 margin with 3 members abstained from voting.

While 164 votes were polled in favour of Shinde, 99 votes were cast against the new government.

Congratulating CM Shinde on winning the floor test with a huge mandate, Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis said in an address to the Assembly that Shinde is a loyal Shiv Sainik. "He is loyal to Balasaheb Thackeray's ideology," he said.

"I thank all members who reposed their faith on the Shinde government. I also thank all those who by staying out of House indirectly helped the BJP-Shinde alliance," Fadnavis said, targetting leaders like Congress' Ashok Chavan, Vijay Wadettiwar and Zeeshan Siddique who did not reach for the floor test.

Meanwhile, two MLAs of the Uddhav Thackeray faction, Santosh Bangar and Shyamsundar Shinde, joined the Eknath Shinde camp just before the trust vote.

On the first day of the special assembly session, Rahul Narvekar of the BJP was elected Speaker of the Maharashtra Assembly. Narvekar, who polled 164 votes, defeated Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena candidate Rajan Salvi, who got 107 votes. The speaker's post was lying vacant since February last year after Nana Patole of the Congress resigned.

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