There is a constitutional obligation before Uddhav Thackeray under Article 164 (4) that he would have to be a member of any of the houses of Maharashtra Assembly before May 24, 2020. Since the Election Commission of India has postponed every election, he is left with no other option but to look at the governor to be merciful on him to nominate him for Legislative Council.

What will happen if he fails to get nominated? There is one option that he resigns and takes oath as the CM once again giving himself another six months. But this is easier said than done as it would involve not only both the Shiv Sena's partners, the Congress and the NCP but give the governor more power to take a call on this.

There is a Supreme Court judgment pronounced on August 17, 2001, that had ruled such re-appointment of a minister in the Punjab government without getting elected to the Assembly as improper and undemocratic.

So what other option does he have if the governor refuses to oblige him? He can let his son Aditya Thackeray to take over but making his allies to agree on this is very difficult as they may seek some more concession that SS might not agree as it has already compromised a lot with its ideology.

There is no problem technically with any nominated member holding top posts as they are as good as any elected member. There is no bar on the governor nominating him as well.

However, till date, no CM has been nominated to the upper house under the nominated category. So much so that no one has been able to get a ministerial berth from the nomination category. His name has already been sent for nomination for the legislative council by the state cabinet. But the Maharashtra government is looking at every possible option to deal with the scenario. Thackrey had taken over reins of the state on November 28, 2019.

(By Rakesh Ranjan)