Bombay HC Seeks Uddhav Sena's Response On Shinde Camp's Plea Against Speaker's Verdict

The Bombay High Court issued notice to Shiv Sena faction led by Udhhav Thackeray on a batch of petitions filed by Eknath Shinde faction against the January 10 verdict by Maharashtra Assembly Speaker

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday issued notice to Shiv Sena faction led by Udhhav Thackeray on a batch of petitions filed by the Eknath Shinde faction of Shiv Sena against the January 10 verdict by Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar 

The Shinde faction's chief whip Bharat Gogawale had challenged the Maharashtra Speaker's January 10 verdict to not disqualify 14 Shiv Sena (UBT) MLAs in the Bombay High Court on Monday. 

The Speaker had dismissed the disqualification petitions filed by the Shinde faction against 14 Shiv Sena (UBT) MLAs on procedural grounds. Narwekar ruled that no material was given to substantiate the claim by Shinde faction that MLAs in Thackeray faction had voluntarily given up membership of the party.

The bench of Justice Girish S Kulkarni and Justice Firdosh P Pooniwalla issued notice to all respondents including the 14 MLAs from Uddhav's faction and the Maharshtra Speaker. The notice is returnable in first week of Februray.

Thackeray on Monday challenged the Speaker's decision in the Supreme Court and sought urgent listing of their plea.

Narwekar pronounced his verdict on January 10 in favour of the Eknath Shinde faction of Shiv Sena. 

Narwekar said that he relied on the Supreme Court's judgment in the Subhash Desai case, and the jurisdiction of the Speaker in deciding defection petitions as provided by the 10th Schedule of the Indian Constitution, which deals with the anti-defection law.

The Speaker, while delivering his verdict, said he was of the view that the last relevant constitution of the Shiv Sena with the Election Commission of India was the one submitted in 1999, and not the 2018 one. The apex court had asked the Speaker to consider the relevant constitution to arrive at a decision.

Narwekar ruled that the Shinde faction was the real Shiv Sena when the rival faction emerged on June 21, 2022, as it had the overwhelming majority of 37 of 55 MLAs. He further said that submission that decision of leadership structure has to be construed synonymous with will of party can be applied only if there was dispute between leader of the party and the members. In this case, there is vertical rift and two factions have emerged, and thus, leaders of both factions Thackeray and Shinde can equally claim will of political party.

The Speaker further ruled that Sunil Prabhu ceased to be the whip of the party since the rival faction emerged. He termed Eknath Shinde's appointment as the leader of Shiv Sena valid, and also upheld Bharat Gogavale's appointment as whip. Thackeray moved the top court challenging this verdict by the Speaker. However, Shinde faction challenged the decision to not disqualify the 14 MLAs in Bombay High Court.