Mumbai: The oath-taking ceremony of the new Maharashtra  Chief Minister is likely to be held on December 5, according to sources. As the suspense over new CM face continues, Devendra Fadnavis has emerged as the frontrunner to become the next chief minister.

In the November 20 Maharashtra assembly elections, the Mahayuti coalition of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), registered a landslide victory by winning 230 seats in the 288-member House. With the stunning performance, the BJP emerged as the single largest party, with 132 seats, followed by Shiv Sena with 57 and NCP with 41 seats.

However, even after the declaration of poll results on November 23, final decision on who will be the chief minister has not been made public yet. Earlire on Thursday, Shinde, Fadnavis and Pawar met BJP president J P Nadda and Union minister Amit Shah late to thrash out a power-sharing pact for the next government in Maharashtra.

A key Mahayuti meeting scheduled on Friday was put off and likely to take place on Sunday now as caretaker Chief Minister Eknath Shinde headed to his native village in Satara district, delaying government formation.

The BJP leader, who did not wish to be quoted, said the swearing-in of the new government will take place on December 5.

Senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis, who was the chief minister twice and deputy chief minister in the last government, is the front-runner for the top post, the leader said.

But there is no word yet on when the BJP legislature party will meet to elect its new leader.

Shinde has made it clear that he will fully support BJP leadership’s decision to name the next CM, and that he won’t be a hurdle in the process, while Ajit Pawar-led NCP has backed Fadnavis for the chief minister’s post. 

(With PTI inputs)