Congress’s Nana Patole elected Maharashtra Assembly Speaker unopposed

India वोट Kar | December 2, 2019

Congress MLA Nana Patole was elected unopposed as Speaker of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly on Sunday after the BJP’s candidate, Kisan Kathore, pulled out of the contest.

How the Speaker was chosen

Nominations had to be withdrawn by 10 am on Sunday. Former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis told the House that other parties had asked the BJP at an all-party meeting to withdraw its nominee. “It has been a tradition that the speaker is appointed unopposed. So we accepted the request,” he said.

The Congress had named Patole on Saturday as the ruling alliance’s candidate, while the BJP put up Kathore. Patole represents Sakoli in Vidarbha and Kathore represents Murbad in Thane district; each is in his fourth term as an MLA. Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray welcomed the result, saying Patole also came from a farming family and would see that justice was done.

The trust vote

On Saturday, the Maha Vikas Aghadi government won a confidence vote, with 169 MLAs supporting the motion in the 288-member House after the BJP’s 105 members walked out before the count. Pro tem Speaker Dilip Walse Patil said a head count followed the voice vote in line with a Supreme Court direction on transparency. The name of every MLA voting or abstaining was recorded, and proceedings were shown live on television. Four MLAs abstained: two belonging to the AIMIM, one from the CPI(M) and one from the MNS, which is led by Thackeray’s estranged cousin Raj Thackeray. Former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan moved the motion, and senior NCP and Sena members seconded it. With 174 members present including the pro tem Speaker, the figures suggested the BJP had the backing of nine MLAs from outside the party.

Fadnavis, now leader of the BJP legislature party, said the walkout was a protest against the unlawful way in which ministers were sworn in and the session was called. Former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan called him a sore loser, noting that Fadnavis quit on 26 November, before his government, then three days old, had to face a floor test. State BJP chief Chandrakant Patil said Thackeray’s swearing-in was illegal because ministers had departed from the prescribed oath by naming their leaders, and that a petition would be filed with Governor B. S. Koshyari.

Background

The Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress came together after the Sena split with its pre-poll ally, the BJP, over the chief minister’s post. In the 21 October election, the BJP won 105 seats; the Sena took 56, the NCP 54 and the Congress 44. Thackeray, 59, was sworn in on Thursday, and this was his first time in the House. Thanking members and the people of the state, he said: “It is not possible to work without their blessings.”

Originally published on 2 December 2019. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.