The Shiv Sena faction led by Uddhav Thackeray has moved the Supreme Court to challenge the order of Maharashtra Speaker, Rahul Narwekar, recognizing the Eknath Shinde faction as the legitimate Shiv Sena. The plea from Shiv Sena (UBT) also contests the dismissal of disqualification petitions against MLAs from the Shinde faction, who had rebelled and split from the party in 2022.
Last week, Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar provided relief to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde by declaring his faction as the "real political party" after the split in June 2022. Narwekar rejected the petition from Uddhav Thackeray's faction seeking the disqualification of 16 Shiv Sena MLAs, including Shinde.
In his disqualification order for both factions, Narwekar stated that Sunil Prabhu of Shiv Sena (UBT) ceased to be the whip from June 21, 2022 (the date of the party split), and legislator Bharat Gogawale of the Shinde group became the authorized whip. Narwekar emphasized that party leadership cannot use the provisions of the 10th schedule of the Constitution (anti-defection law) for dissent or indiscipline within the party. He rejected the argument that the will of the party chief and the will of the party were synonymous.
Reacting to the verdict, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray had said it seemed the Speaker did not understand his responsibilities and called the decision the “murder of democracy”.
“I think he (speaker Rahul Narvekar) did not understand his responsibilities. Supreme Court provided a framework to be followed and even accepted our nomination of Chief Whip. I think the decision was beyond his understanding. Now we will see if the tribunal is above the Supreme Court…The people of the state do not accept this decision…” Thackeray said.
Aditya Thackeray had stated that the party will fight a legal battle against the Speaker’s decision. “A legal battle will be fought against the decision given by the Assembly Speaker. It is shocking that such a decision comes even though we have given all the video recordings to the Election Commission. Democracy has been killed in our country. Hitler Shahi has started in the country.. and he will continue to fight against injustice,” Thackeray said.
When the party split in June 2022, the Shinde group had an overwhelming majority of 37 out of 54 MLAs. Following the rebellion, Shinde became the Chief Minister with the support of the BJP. Shinde hailed the verdict as a victory of truth and democracy, describing it as a defeat of autocracy, dictatorship, and dynasty politics. Without directly naming Uddhav Thackeray, he characterized the order as a "tight slap" on those who ran the party as if it were their private limited company.