The Supreme Court on Friday summarily dismissed an appeal seeking the quashing of the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress coalition government in Maharashtra, saying the judiciary cannot step into the domain of “constitutional morality”.

“Constitutional morality is different from political morality. In a democracy, we cannot stop a political party from forming alliances with other parties. Don’t expect us to go into areas where the court has no jurisdiction,” a bench headed by Justice N.V. Ramana told an advocate appearing for petitioner Pramod Joshi, said to be representing the Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha.

The bench, which also had Justices Ashok Bhushan and Sanjiv Khanna, had on November 26 directed the BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis to prove his majority on the floor of the House by the next day. However, then chief minister Fadnavis and his then deputy Ajit Pawar tendered their resignations, culminating in the emergence of the Maha Vikas Aghadi of the Shiv Sena, NCP and the Congress.

According to the petitioner, the voters of Maharashtra had given their verdict on the pre-poll alliances of the Shiv Sena and the BJP and the Congress and the NCP, and so the combines could not now swap allies as it amounted to a “fraud” on the voters.

However, the court said: “Political parties have to abide by the promises…. But… if they don’t, we cannot do anything about it. Having heard the learned counsel appearing for the petitioner and perusing the material available on record, we find no merit in the writ petition.”