Finally, the verdict was out on Wednesday by the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar on a slew of disqualification petitions filed by both Eknath Shinde led Shiv Sena and Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray led by Uddhav Thackeray.
Shinde received a major boost as his faction has been declared as a real political party and thereby his clout in the MahaYuti government will further deepen ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Maharashtra.
Shinde will continue as the Chief Minister and the MahaYuti government further achieves stability. However, Shiv Sena UBT, which received a body blow, has announced that it will approach the Supreme Court against the Speaker’s ruling.
Narwekar said that rival factions have emerged in the legislature and political party and amongst leaders of the party as well. “Submission that decision of leadership structure has to be construed synonymous with the will of the party can be applied only if there was a dispute between the leader of the party and the members. When there is vertical rift and two factions emerge, leaders of both factions Thackeray and Shinde can equally claim the will of political party,” he said.
‘’The faction led by now CM Eknath Shinde was the real Shiv Sena when the rival factions emerged. He also rejected the disqualification pleas against Shinde Sena MLAs. “The last relevant constitution submitted to ECI before the rival groups emerged was in 1999. I hold that the Constitution of Shiv Sena party provided by ECI to the Speaker is the relevant constitution of Shiv Sena to decide which is the political party,”he added.
‘’All the petitions seeking disqualification of MLAs are rejected. No MLA disqualified from any faction of Shiv Sena,” ruled Narwekar. This means 16 MLAs from Shinde faction and over 14 MLAs from UBT will not be disqualified. ‘’Submissions by the Shinde faction that legislators from UBT factions were liable to be disqualified cannot be accepted on the grounds that it is mere allegation and assertion that they had voluntarily given up membership of the party. No material was given to substantiate.
Though the petitions tried to show that whip was served on respondent, the petitioner has failed to prove the service. There are major inconsistencies in the answer of the whip service of whip. Thus, the submission for disqualification of UBT members also cannot be accepted,” he said.
With this ruling, the attempt seems to have been made not to give an opportunity to Uddhav Thackeray led Shiv Sena to gain sympathy ahead of upcoming general elections and later in the assembly polls.
Speaker also ruled against the removal of Shinde as group leader by Pakshapramukh at the meeting held in June 2022 saying that there was no post as per the provisions of Shiv Sena’s Constitution of 1999 which is available with the Election Commission of India.
‘’The 2018 leadership structure mentions Shiv Sena pakshapramukh as the highest office. However, in the SS constitution, the highest office is Shiv Sena Pramukh and Rashtriya Karyakarini is the highest authority, he said, adding that ‘’Thus it cannot be taken as yardstick to determine which faction was the real political party at the relevant time. “The (Shiv Sena) UBT faction submitted that the decision of Paksha Pramukh is synonymous to the will of the political party in case of rift. This proposition is devoid of merit.’’
Shinde’s election as the Chief Leader was also upheld by the Speaker in his ruling. ‘’There is no consensus on the constitution submitted by both the parties (two factions of Shiv Sena) to the EC. The two parties have different points of view on leadership structure. The only aspect is the majority in the legislature party. I will have to decide the relevant constitution to take into account the leadership structure that existed before the dispute,’’ he said.
Further, the Speaker has upheld the appointment of Bharat Gogawale as the whip as Sunil Prabhu ceased to be the whip. This is quite crucial, especially when the Supreme Court has ruled against the appointment of Gogawale as the whip.
Meanwhile, the opposition has strongly criticised the Speaker’s verdict. Shiv Sena UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray claimed that today’s verdict was expected especially in the wake of two meetings that took place between Narwekar and CM Eknath Shinde. ” The verdict was due to setting and match fixing. Today’s verdict will not stand in the apex court nor in the people’s court,” he added.
”There has been Democracy’s killing, but today’s verdict also has weakened the anti-defection law,” he said. He added that the Speaker’s verdict has shown that it was at the behest of MahaShakti.
Thackeray said Narwekar has not disqualified legislators from both the sides, adding that it has given his verdict in line with the Election Commission of India judgement. ”The Speaker has made contempt of the Supreme Court, and the party will explore an option of filing a petition in this regard. If it is not, then the apex court Suo moto can initiate action against Narwekar,”he added. ”Today’s verdict is not judicial but political,”he said.
Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar claimed that today’s verdict was on the expected lines, adding that the Speaker has given a weightage to the Legislative Party and therefore Shiv Sena UBT will have to once again go to the apex court. He further added that the Speaker has violated the Supreme Court’s guidelines.
Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis reacted that today’s verdict has proved that the state government was formed legally and based on the Constitutional provisions.
CM Eknath Shinde attacked Thackeray, saying that ”Today’s verdict is a milestone and it is a victory of truth, democracy and Hindutva. It is against dynasticism and one man rule.”
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