Uddhav Thackeray-led faction moves Supreme Court against Maharashtra Speaker’s decision that Shinde faction is ‘real’ Shiv Sena

Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) Chief Uddhav Thackeray. File.
| Photo Credit: ANI

The Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray (UBT) has approached the Supreme Court against the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker’s decision to dismiss disqualification petitions against Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and supporting MLAs while holding them as the “real” Shiv Sena.

The Speaker’s decision came on January 10, nearly two years after Mr. Thackeray’s camp moved disqualification petitions against Mr. Shinde and his supporting legislators under the Tenth Schedule (anti-defection law) of the Constitution in June 2022.

Also read | Maharashtra Speaker’s decision conflicts with SC ruling on factions

The Speaker discerned that the Mr. Shinde faction was the “real political party” from the legislative majority it had commanded at the time the rival factions emerged.

“‘Shinde faction’ was the ‘real Shiv Sena political party’ when the rival factions emerged on June 21, 2022,” Speaker Rahul Narwekar had announced.

The Speaker had also held that since ‘Shinde faction’ was the real political party, UBT faction’s allegations that Shinde faction violated the whip cannot be sustained.

The Speaker dismissed UBT’s claims that ‘Shinde faction’ had become ‘incommunicado’ with the SSLP (Shiv Sena Legislative Party) leadership after the ‘split’ as a “mere allegation”.

The UBT faction had filed disqualification petitions against the Shinde camp, alleging that they had ‘deliberately’ remained absent from the urgent meetings called for by the party leadership in June 2022. The disqualification petitions argued that the Shinde faction had illegally passed a resolution in June 2022 re-appointing Shri Eknath Shinde as the SSLP leader and appointing Shri Bharat Gogawale as the Chief Whip.

The Thackeray faction had contended that the Shinde camp had voted contrary to the whip issued by Sunil Prabhu in the election for the Speaker and the trust vote.

A five-judge Constitution Bench, on May 11 last year, had directed the Maharashtra Speaker, in his capacity as tribunal under the Tenth Schedule, to hear and decide the disqualification petitions within a “reasonable time”.