A Wardha-based lawyer has written a letter to Maharashtra Governor Acharya Devvrat claiming that Deputy CM Sunetra Pawar’s oath-taking ceremony is “illegal”, according to official sources.
Lawyer Harshvardhan Shobha Babarao Godghate has argued that the swearing-in ceremony itself was “illegal” since Deputy CM Sunetra Pawar was neither an elected Member of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly (MLA) nor a Member of the Legislative Council (MLC) nor a Maharashtra cabinet minister when the oath was administered to her.
In his letter to the Maharashtra Governor, the lawyer has also stated that the very post of a Deputy Chief Minister is “unconstitutional” since such a post has not been mentioned anywhere in the Constitution of India, due to which the swearing-in ceremony was “illegal”.
In a related development, anti-corruption activist and lawyer Anjali Damania has also raised objections to Sunetra Pawar being sworn in as Deputy CM, saying that she should take an oath as a minister first.
However, Sunil Tatkare, who is the president of the Ajit Pawar-led NCP, defended the swearing-in ceremony of Deputy CM Sunetra Pawar.
“We have the political sense to verify technical matters. We have that much knowledge because we have been in politics for many years. We know who can take the oath, and how long a person can remain in office even if he is not a member. We have the example of Ajit Pawar in 1991, and there is the example of Sharad Pawar himself,” Sunil Tatkare said.
Meanwhile, sources said that moves are on inside the Ajit Pawar-led NCP to elect Deputy CM Sunetra Pawar unopposed as the National President of the Ajit Pawar-led NCP before March 2026.
The party has issued a letter stating that Sunetra Pawar will be elected unopposed as the President of the Nationalist Congress Party with the consent of the party’s state office bearers and its national executive office bearers.
After the death of the late Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, his wife, Sunetra Pawar, took the oath of office as Deputy Chief Minister on January 31.
According to Ajit Pawar-led NCP sources, all future decisions will be taken by Deputy CM Sunetra Pawar and other NCP leaders. It is also learnt that Sunetra Pawar will go to Delhi to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah in a few days.
More than 30 top office bearers of the Ajit Pawar-led NCP have demanded that Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar be made the president of the party, and they have sent a letter to party president Sunil Tatkare and senior NCP leader Praful Patel.