On Monday, the Shiv Sena faction led by Uddhav Thackeray filed a petition in the Supreme Court, contesting the decision of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar. The Speaker had declared Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's Sena bloc as the "authentic political party" following their division in June 2022.
Additionally, the Speaker dismissed the plea from the Thackeray faction, which sought the disqualification of 16 Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) from the governing group, including Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
On January 10, in his decision on the disqualification petitions, the Speaker refrained from disqualifying any Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from the opposing factions.
The ruling further cemented Shinde's position as the chief minister, 18 months after he led a rebellion against Thackeray, and added to his political heft in the ruling coalition, which also consists of the BJP and the NCP (Ajit Pawar group), ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in the summer and state assembly elections due in the second half of 2024.
Narwekar emphasized that the leadership of any political party cannot exploit the provisions of the 10th Schedule of the Constitution, which pertains to the anti-defection law, as a means to suppress dissent or address internal discipline issues within the party.
The Speaker highlighted that at the time of the party split in June 2022, the Shinde group secured the backing of 37 out of the total 54 Shiv Sena Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs).
The Election Commission had given the 'Shiv Sena' name and 'bow and arrow' symbol to the Shinde-led faction in early 2023.
"All the petitions seeking disqualification of MLAs are rejected. No MLA is being disqualified," Narwekar had said.
Furthermore, the Speaker asserted that the Shiv Sena chief, or "pramukh," lacked the authority to dismiss any leader from the party. He rejected the argument asserting the equivalence of the party chief's will with that of the party itself, emphasizing that they were not synonymous.
