Political Maharashtra

Politics of Maharashtra After India’s independence, most of Maharashtra’s political history was dominated by the Indian National Congress party. Maharashtra became a bastion of the Congress party producing stalwarts such as Yashwantrao Chavan, Vasantdada Patil, Shankarrao Chavan, Vasantrao Naik, Vilasrao Deshmukh and Sharad Pawar. The party enjoyed near unchallenged dominance of the political landscape until 1995 when the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured an overwhelming majority in the state to form a coalition.

After a split in the Congress party, former chief minister Sharad Pawar formed the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), but formed a coalition with the Congress to keep out the BJP-SS combine. Prithviraj Chavan of Congress party is the current Chief Minister of Maharashtra. Maharashtra, 1960-1971 Establishment of the State : In 1956 the Bombay State ceded Kannada-speaking territory to Mysore, but gained Marathwada (Aurangabad Division) from Hyderabad State and Vidarbha (Amravati and Nagpur Divisions) from Madhya Pradesh & Berar.

In 1960, Bombay State was split into the States of Gujarat and Maharashtra. Administration : From 1962 to 1979 Maharashtra was administrated by an Indian National Congress (INC) led government Annals : 1960 : Bombay State split into Gujarat and Maharashtra; Bombay capital of Maharashtra, Marathi provincial language 1960 : Nagpur Pact; Nagpur (Vidarbha) elevated to second capital of Maharashtra; legislative assembly meets here for two weeks in December every year 1961 : communal violence in Nagpur (BBoY 1962) 962 : state election; INC formed government 1966 : communal incidents in Maharashtra (BBoY 1967) 1966 : Shiv Sena (SHS), Maharashtra Hindu party, founded 1967 : state election; INC formed government 1968 : Hindu-Muslim riots in Aurangabad and Nagpur (BBoY 1969) 1969 : India’s first nuclear power station at Tarapur became operational (BBoY 1970) Social History : In 1961 the population of Maharashtra was 39. 9 million, in 1971 50. 3 million. The Statesman’s Yearbook, based on the census of 1971, gives the literacy rate for Maharashtra in 1971 as 39. %; in 1961 80. 2 % of the population were Hindus, 7. 6 % Muslims, 7 % Buddhists. Government, Politics and Judiciary Maharashtra is one of the most advanced states in India, the second most populated state and the third largest state in India. The government, politics and judiciary of Maharashtra is quite similar to those of the other states. The state of Maharashtra is governed by the Governor and the Chief Minister. The Governor is the nominal head of the state and the Chief Minister is the Head of the government.

He is the head of the political party which has the maximum number of seats in the State Legislative Assembly. The State Legislative Assembly is also known as the Vidhan Sabha and it is situated in the capital city of Maharashtra, Mumbai. The Chief Minister has all the executive powers which he can execute taking the advice of his council of ministers. The government of Maharashtra is aided by a bicameral parliament, the lower house and the upper house – the Vidhan Sabha and the Vidhan Parishad.

At present the Chief Minister of Maharashtra is Vilasrao Deshmukh from the Congress Party. The political party which holds the maximum number of seats in the Vidhan Sabha at present is the NCP which had formed the government with a coalition with the Congress. The state of Maharashtra has been nominated 19 seats in the Rajya Sabha and 48 in the Lok Sabha. Commissions : The four commissions of the government of Maharashtra are the State Election Commission, Maharashtra Public Service Commission, Union Public Service Commission, and Staff Selection Commission.

These commissions have been formed to fulfill certain special responsibilities such as conducting exams which are related to government jobs. The State Election Commission: has the responsibility of taking care of the election chores in the state. There is a state election commissioner who is appointed on the basis of certain qualifications. Maharashtra Public Service Commission: the MPSC consists of examinations which are scheduled for the posts of Judges of the Co – Operative courts, Assistant Director, Special District Social Welfare Officer, Medical Officer.

This commission fixes the dates of the examinations, the syllabus for the examination, the schedule for the interview and other details in connection with the examinations. Union Public Service Commission: the most important function of the Union Public Service Commission is the recruitment of services through written examinations and interviews, advising the state government on the recruitment of personnel, disciplinary functions, other miscellaneous functions regarding pensions and reimbursements of legal expenses. Staff Selection Commission: he function of the Staff Selection Commission of the Maharashtra government is to select staff of the Group B and technical staff of the Group C in the Ministries or Departments, Government of India offices, Election Commission and the Central Vigilance Commission. The Commission is responsible for formulation of policies which might assist in conducting the examination smoothly. Government Departments : Maharashtra government is dedicated towards serving the citizens and for that purpose it has delegated the responsibility to the various departments of the government.

Each department takes care of the different needs of the inhabitants. Apart from the government departments, the government of Maharashtra is assisted by the Boards and Corporations in the fulfillment of its duty. The Government Departments and their functions are: Agriculture Department Co-operation Department Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) Directorate of Technical Education, Maharashtra Directorate of Vocational Education and Training (DVET) Employment and Self Employment Department, Maharashtra Finance Department, Maharashtra

Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection Department Forest Department Home Department Irrigation Department Public Works Department (PWD) Vidhan Sabha : The Vidhan Sabha of Maharashtra is the lower house or the House of the People. The total strength of the House is 289 members and the term of office for the members is five years. Under unusual conditions the House may be dissolved. It consists of members who are directly elected by the people of Maharashtra. There are certain qualifications required to be the member of the Vidhan Sabha which are: To be a citizen of India

To be not less than 25 years of age To be mentally sound and not bankrupt To have an affidavit of not having any criminal procedures against him. Mumbai High Court : The highest body of the Maharashtra judiciary is the Bombay High Court under which there are the Subordinate Courts which serve the districts and the City Civil Courts. The Bombay High Court can exercise original jurisdiction over the state of Maharashtra, Goa, Daman and Diu. It has benches in the cities of Bombay, Aurangabad, Nagpur and Panaji in Goa. The Bombay High Court can exercise both original and appellate jurisdiction in Bombay.

The Bombay High Court can have maximum of 64 judges. The judiciary of the state of Maharashtra offers legal aid services in all its benches. The Lokayuktas and the Upa – Lokayuktas form the subordinate courts of Maharashtra. the benches of the Bombay High Court in the cities also serve as the subordinate courts in the state. Other than that there is the Maharashtra State Legal Services and Authority department which provides all the necessary information about the important names and contact numbers related to the judiciary services. Maharashtra Politics : Current Scenario

India is the biggest democratic country in the world. Indian democracy provides the right of vote to its citizens to elect the government of their choice after every period of five years. However, some times unfortunately the situation rises when the ruling government looses majority in the house and vote of non-confidence is passed by the opponent party, and if the ruling party is not able to win the vote of non-confidence the house has to under go the mid-term elections. This situation may rise at the Lok Sabha in centre or at Vidhan Sabha or State Assembly in state.

The dominating Indian Politics from the last few decades have been Indian National Congress and Bhartiya Janta Party besides them there are various regional parties at state level which play an influencing role in the political scenario. These parties however do not have their threshold in whole country but they have their impact on the politics at state level. These parties are the ruling parties in some of the states and in some states they act as an alliance of the party in rule. The politics of Maharashtra is not an exception to it where apart from the two major political parties i. e. , Indian