Will Maharashtra Assembly Function Without LoP?

The next legislative assembly in Maharashtra may have to function without a recognised leader of the opposition (LoP) unless the ruling Mahayuti decides to grant the status to one of the Maha Vikas Aghadi partners as a political favour to the other side. This situation has arisen since none of the opposition parties has been able to secure the minimum 29 seats in the lower house required to gain the status of the LoP, as is required by rules and precedents. The piquant legislative logjam is created as the BJP-led Mahayuti coalition has won a landslide victory, bagging 233 seats in the house of 288 seats. On the opposition side, the Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray has obtained just 20 out of 95 seats it contested. The Congress being the largest partner of the MVA had contested 103 seats but won only 16. Veteran leader Sharad Pawar’s NCP is the worst sufferer with barely 10 seats. In the past, various small opposition parties would form a group that would be recognised by the speaker to grant LoP status. Such an understanding took place in Maharashtra in 1986 when socialists Mrinal Gore and Nihal Ahmed and PWP’s Datta Patil were made LoP though they had very few members each. But such a gesture was not shown by the Modi government in the Lok Sabha in 2014 and 2019. Hence what happens in Maharashtra will depend upon both sides.