Law to be passed in Maharashtra to decide Number of MLAs for Selection of an Opposition Leader

Law likely to be passed in the forthcoming budgetary session 

Pritam Nachankar, Special Correspondent, Sanatan Prabhat 

Mumbai, 22 January – There is no specific law in Maharashtra on what should be the strength of  MLAs  from Opposition Parties in the State Assembly for selecting an Opposition Leader. Presently, there is no leader of opposition in Maharashtra since the number of MLAs elected from the opposition parties is inadequate; therefore, Maharashtra Government has decided to pass a law to determine the number of MLAs required for selection of an opposition leader. In the forthcoming budgetary session, a law is most likely going to be passed in this context as per the information shared by one of the officers in Vidhan Bhavan.

1. It is necessary for at least one of the opposition parties to have minimum 10% of the total members in Lok Sabha to select a leader of the opposition in the House.

2. In the State Assembly elections held in November 2024, none of the allied parties in Mahavikas Aghadi had 10% of the total number of MLAs and based on the practice in Lok Sabha, an opposition leader was not selected in Maharashtra. This decision had led to Mahavikas Aghadi strongly criticising Mahayuti.

3. Maharashtra Government has, therefore, decided to pass a law to avoid a row over selection of an opposition leader in future and to have clarity in the decision.

Strength of opposition parties in the State Assembly 

Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray group has 20 MLAs; Congress 16; NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) 10; Peasants and Workers Party (PWP) has 2 MLAs. This is the total number of MLAs in Mahavikas Aghadi in Maharashtra. The total MLAs are 288, of that 10% i.e. 28.8 or at least 29 MLAs should have got elected for selecting an opposition leader; but none of the constituents of Mahavikas Aghadi has been able to achieve this number.

When did such situation prevail in Maharashtra and what was the action taken ? 

Earlier, in the consecutive elections held in 1962, 1967, and 1972, none of the opposition parties could get elected 10% of the total number of MLAs. In all the three elections,  

PWP had 15, 19, and 7 elected MLAs respectively. Though the total number was less than required, the then ruling Congress party had selected a PWP MLA as the opposition leader. The speaker of the State Legislative Assembly has special power to select an opposition leader in the Assembly.