MUMBAI: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis took oath as a member of the Maharashtra legislative assembly on Saturday, on the first day of the three-day special session of the House. Deputy Chief Ministers Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar also took oath as members of the Maharashtra assembly. The three leaders were administered the oath as MLAs by the legislative assembly’s pro-tem speaker Kalidas Kolambkar soon after the proceedings of the House began at 11 am. The pro-tem speaker will administer the oath of office to the rest of the 287 newly-elected MLAs.Meanwhile, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aditya Thackeray announed that the Opposition members will not take oath as MLAs on the first day of the assembly session to protest the alleged misuse of EVMs.”Today we have decided that our (Shiv Sena UBT) winning MLAs will not take oath. If this was the mandate of the people, people would have been happy and celebrated it, but people did not celebrate this victory anywhere. We have doubts about EVM,” Thackeray said.Maharashtra Congress President Nana Patole also cast doubts over the Assembly election results, alleging unfair practices and accusing the government of vote manipulation, leading the opposition to boycott the MLA oath-taking ceremony.”The Assembly election that happened in Maharashtra, people are not convinced about it. What happened in Markadwadi, is the sentiment of entire Maharashtra. Today if Election Commission, the government oppose mock polling, then it means that the government has come with unfair means, stealing votes. They would have let mock polls happen. Hence, to mark our protest, we have boycotted the oaths of new MLAs,” Patole said.Results of the November 20 Maharashtra assembly polls were declared on November 23, wherein the Mahayuti alliance of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) registered a resounding victory by winning 230 of the 288 assembly seats.The new government was sworn in on December 5 with Devendra Fadnavis returning as the chief minister, while Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar took oath as deputy chief ministers.
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