The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear petition filed by the Uddhav Thackeray faction of Shiv Sena against the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar's verdict declaring the Sena bloc led by CM Eknath Shinde as real political party after its split in June 2022.
The plea was listed for a hearing on January 19. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the Thackeray group, requested the top court that the hearing be listed for Monday next week instead of this Friday.
The bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra, agreed to hear the plea on Monday.
On January 15, the Thackeray faction moved the top court challenging the January 10 decision of the Maharashtra Assembly speaker on cross petitions filed by both the Shiv Sena factions against each other for disqualification.
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.
The Bombay High Court on Wednesday issued notice returnable in first week of February, 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.