Kapil Sibal questions why the President rule was revoked at 5:17 AM in Maharashtra

New Delhi: Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal who is representing Shiv Sena on Monday questioned the revocation of President's Rule in Maharashtra in the Supreme Court which was hearing the petition over the government formation in the state.

"What was the hurry that President's rule was revoked at 5:17 in the morning? There is a prima-facie case. What was the national emergency that President's rule was revoked at 5:17 am and swearing-in was at 8 in the morning. President's Rule was revoked at 5:17 am that means everything happened before 5:17," Sibal told the bench comprising of Justices NV Ramana, Ashok Bhushan and Sanjiv Khanna.

"See the conduct of authority, Governor could not wait for 24 hours? What is the hurry to revoke President's rule at wee hours? Everything happened between 7 pm to 5 am," he said.

Advocate Sibal argued that the floor test should be conducted in 24 hours in "full light".

"The Supreme Court's year should be applied in the floor test. The senior member of the house to conduct the floor test, videography and single ballot. It is in the cover of the dark night that some new opportunities come knocking. Let the floor test be conducted in full light."

Sibal pointed out that the promises made by BJP to Shiv Sena did not materialise and the former backed out. "That's why we left the pre-poll alliance. It had nothing to do with NCP and Congress," he said.

In a special hearing on Sunday, a bench of Justices N V Ramana, Ashok Bhushan, and Sanjiv Khanna had asked the Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to produce relevant documents including Maharashtra Governor's letter inviting BJP to form the government and letter of support of MLAs by 10 am on Monday.

This came after the BJP formed the government on Saturday morning when Devendra Fadnavis took oath for the second consecutive term as the state Chief Minister, with NCP's Ajit Pawar as his Deputy Chief Minister.

BJP won 105 seats, Shiv Sena bagged 56 seats, 54 seats went to NCP while Congress secured 44 seats in the 288-member Assembly.