Devendra Fadnavis of BJP resigned as Maharashtra chief minister Tuesday afternoon, three after he was sworn in. Earlier in the day, Ajit Pawar of NCP resigned as deputy chief minister. The dramatic developments came within hours of the the supreme court order, asking Fadnavis to prove his majority by a floor test in the assembly on Wednesday.

Addressing the media, Fadnavis said his party had not enough numbers after Ajit Pawar's resignation, and they didn't want to ingulge in 'horse trading', so he was demiting the office.

At 10.30 am on Tuesday, the supreme court ordered a floor test by 5 pm Wednesday, which should also be telecast live to avoid allegations of foul play.

A bench of justice NV Ramanna, Sanjiv Khanna and Ashok Bhushan on Tuesday morning gave its verdict on the petition filed by the Shiv Sena, NCP and the Congress. The trio had approached the apex court Saturday after the governor invited the previous chief minister, Devendra Fadnavis of the BJP to form government. He was supported by Ajit Pawar of the NCP, who was sworn in as deputy chief minister.

Read more on the dramatic developments:

Supreme court verdict on Maharashtra on Tuesday

Fadnavis is Maharashtra chief minister, after all

Maharashtra set to get first Shiv Sainik CM

The Sena on Friday night was all set to stake the claim, with support of the NCP and the Congress. NCP chief Sharad Pawar has maintained that he had not been aware of his nephew, Ajit Pawar’s parallel parleys with the BJP.

While the BJP is the largest party in the assembly after the October 21 elections, it has only 105 seats in the 288-member assembly. It should have formed the government along with its pre-poll ally Shiv Sena, which however sought more share in power and the decades-old alliance was severed. Amid the president’s rule, the Sena reached out to the other two parties, and they had worked out a power-sharing deal, when the BJP sprung the surprise.

The court also asked governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari to appoint a pro-tem speaker who would oversee the proceedings of the floor test.

Meanwhile, the three parties had a show of strength in a Mumbai hotel Monday evening, claiming they had 162 MLAs. Also on Monday, the new chief minister held his first official meeting in the new term, but his deputy, Ajit Pawar, was not present in it.