The Bombay High Court on Monday kept in abeyance the Thane district collector’s orders recognising and de-recognising alliances in the Ambernath Municipal Council, PTI reported.
A bench comprising Justices Ravindra Ghuge and Abhay Mantri directed the collector to pass a reasoned order after hearing all the concerned parties – the Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress, the Ajit Pawar-led faction of the Nationalist Congress Party and the Eknath Shinde-led grouping of the Shiv Sena.
Commenting on the side-switching of four members of the Ajit Pawar-led NCP in Ambernath, the court quipped that they were “globetrotting”, PTI reported.
After the municipal elections in Ambernath held on December 20, the local BJP unit had allied with the Congress to sideline the Shinde Sena, which is its coalition partner in the Maharashtra government. While the Shinde Sena had emerged as the single largest party in the Ambernath municipal council, no group could reach the halfway mark of 31 on its own.
The BJP won the post of the council chairperson through direct election, PTI reported.
Initially, 14 BJP members, 12 Congress members, four leaders from the Ajit Pawar-led NCP and one Independent submitted a letter to the Thane collector seeking to be recognised as an alliance, The Indian Express reported. The coalition, the Ambernath Vikas Aghadi, was recognised as a pre-poll...
