Eknath Shinde group seeks separate hearings of Shiv Sena disqualification pleas

As Maharashtra assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar on Thursday heard the disqualification petitions filed by rival Shiv Sena factions led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his predecessor Uddhav Thackeray, the Shinde group sought separate hearings.

The Uddhav-led faction, however, insisted that there was no need for hearing the petitions separately as the reason behind all the pleas was the same. According to attorneys who represented the contending parties, although Narwekar had first begun the procedure to hear the pleas, the first actual hearing - of disqualification pleas against Shinde and 15 other MLAs - was held in Vidhan Bhavan on Thursday.

After the hearing was over for the day, senior counsel for the Shinde group, Anil Sakhare, told reporters, Every person who is a party to the disqualification petitions has something to say about it. Thus, we demanded separate hearings of the petitions instead of clubbing them all together. His contention was countered by the Thackeray-led Sena (UBT).

Rajya Sabha member Anil Desai said, Our demand for the clubbing of all the disqualification petitions and conducting the hearing accordingly still remains the same as the cause mentioned in every petition is the same. All petitions filed from the Sena (UBT) side pertain to disqualification of MLAs who joined the other side (Shinde faction), he said.

We urge the speaker that there is no further delay in deciding the petitions. Justice delayed is justice denied, Desai said. Narwekar on Wednesday said he had advanced the hearing on the disqualification petitions to Thursday from Friday as it was clashing with the G20 Parliamentary Speakers’ Summit (P20) in Delhi on October 13. Narwekar said he didn’t want to delay the matter any further.