Raj bhavan , governor's house shouldn't become center for political conspiracy. Remember ! history doesn't spare th… https://t.co/wiEsh4fpa0 — Sanjay Raut (@rautsanjay61) 1587280620000

NEW DELHI: The Covid-19 pandemic threatens to trigger an unprecedented constitutional crisis in Maharashtra , a state that has already been hit hard by the impact of the deadly virus.Uddhav Thackeray’s continuance as chief minister of the state may become untenable after May 24, if he fails to become a member of either House of the Maharashtra legislature.However, the prospect of this happening smoothly appears bleak due to the unprecedented crisis in the wake of the novel coronavirus outbreak. Uddhav Thackeray was sworn in as Maharashtra chief minister on November 28, 2019. According to Article 164 (4) of the Indian Constitution, “a minister (including the chief minister) who for any period of six consecutive months is not a member of the Legislature of the State shall at the expiration of that period cease to be a Minister”.May 24 is the deadline for Uddhav Thackeray to get elected to either the legislative assembly or the legislative council so that he can continue to remain the chief minister of the state without any disruption.However, the road ahead for him is full of uncertainty. Uddhav Thackeray missed an opportunity to get elected as MLC, when Election Commission announced polls for two MLC seats that were to be held in the last week of January.One seat got vacant after Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Dhananjay Munde won the assembly elections last year. Polling for the seat took place on January 24 and the term of the new MLC will last till July 7, 2022.The Yavatmal Local Authorities’ seat was the second seat and it was vacated by Shiv Sena’s Tanaji Sawant on being elected MLA from Bhoom-Paranda. The election to this seat took place on January 31. The term for this seat will end on December 5, 2022.The by-election to the Maharashtra Legislative Council from the Dhule Nandurbar local authorities constituency was scheduled on March 24.Similarly, nine legislative council seats fell vacant on April 24. Uddhav Thackeray was all set to get elected as an MLC during the biennial elections from any one of these nine seats.However, election to all these 10 seats has been deferred indefinitely due to the Covid-19 pandemic.Facing such an uncertain prospect, the state cabinet met on April 9. However, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray was conspicuous by his absence. The exact reason behind this is not clear.Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) presided over that meeting which recommended Uddhav Thackeray’s nomination to the legislative council as the governor’s nominee.As far as the constitutional position is concerned, the governor is authorised to nominate 12 of the 78 council members. Out of these 12, two seats are lying vacant though their six-year term will end on June 6.Even if Uddhav is nominated to one of the two seats, he will have to be renominated by the governor after June 6.But as matters stand now, Maharashtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshiyari has neither approved nor rejected the recommendation of the cabinet.Apprehending sabotage, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut sought to warn the governor. In a tweet on April 19, he said, “Raj Bhavan, governor's house shouldn't become the centre for political conspiracy. Remember, history doesn't spare those who behave unconstitutionally.”However, talking to timesofindia.com, former Lok Sabha secretary general PDT Achary said there was no option for the governor but to accept the cabinet’s recommendation.He said, “The Constitution itself lays down provisions for the governor’s quota. The council of ministers makes a recommendation to the governor for nomination in the legislative council. The governor is bound to accept the recommendation.”While Sanjay Raut was apprehensive of the governor’s probable move, Rajya Sabha MP and Shiv Sena deputy leader Priyanka Chaturvedi felt there was no reason for the party to think otherwise. “The governor is duty-bound to accept the recommendations of the council of ministers,” she told timesofindia.com.However, the issue is not that simple as it appears to be.A petition was filed by one Ramkrishnan alias Rajesh Pillay in the Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court requesting a stay on the recommendation of the Maharashtra cabinet. One of his grounds for stay was that the recommendation was illegal because the CM was not present in it.The court, in its order on April 20 refused a stay the decision and said the governor was expected to consider the legal validity of the recommendation.All eyes are now set on governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari