With the Devendra Fadnavis-led government having been sworn in, the biggest question being asked by everyone following the Maharashtra Game of Thrones is how do the numbers stack up.

In the 288-member Maharashtra assembly, 145 is the magic figure.

BJP currently has 105 MLAs. On the other side, the Shiv Sena has 56 and the Congress has 44.

The party in the spotlight at the moment is the NCP which has 54 MLAs and where the uncle Sharad Pawar and the nephew Ajit Pawar, Fadnavis' Deputy CM, are pulling in different directions.

Initially, Fadnavis' side claimed the support of all the 54 NCP MLAs. In fact, it was by producing a 'letter of support' to this effect - later dismissed by the NCP as signatures on an attendance sheet - that Fadnavis and Co formed their government.  

This was quickly called into question when Sharad Pawar tweeted that Ajit Pawar had acted on his own and NCP had no truck with the decision.

Then in his afternoon press meet, the NCP chief said that even those party MLAs who had gone to Raj Bhavan for the swearing-in had been there only because they had been misled and three of them had already returned to the fold.

Later in the evening, the NCP went on to claim that 50 of their 54 MLAs were with them. But then all these were just claims. There was no number to rely upon.

Finally, on Sunday, the special Supreme Court hearing revealed an authoritative number.

Appearing on behalf of the Sena-NCP-Congress alliance at the hearing was Abhishek Manu Singhvi. The Congress leader and leading lawyer revealed that 41 NCP MLAs had signed the letter which formalised the ouster of Ajit Pawar as legislature unit leader.

This means that another 13 out of the NCP's 54 MLAs haven't. Will these numbers grow or fall? The days ahead will tell.