New Delhi, Jan 15 The Shiv Sena faction, led by former CM Uddhav Thackeray, has moved the Supreme Court against the recent ruling of Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar declaring that the Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led faction is the "real" Shiv Sena.
The plea also questions the dismissal of the disqualification petitions filed against CM Shinde and other MLAs of his camp, who were accused of anti-party activities by it.
It said that the Speaker conflated the concept of "legislature party" with the "political party" and held that since Shinde faction has a "legislative majority", the same has to be considered as the "real political party".
The special leave petition, filed through advocate Nishant Patil, stated that the decision passed by the Speaker is ex-facie ultra vires the provisions of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution in as much as it appreciates the legislative majority of the Shinde faction for the purpose of determining who is the political party.
It added that the Assembly Speaker “erroneously” held that the 2018 leadership structure cannot be relied upon as it purportedly does not conform with the provisions of the Shiv Sena constitution.
On January 10, Narwekar held that the group led by Shinde was the real "Shiv Sena" as it commanded a majority in the legislature and also in the party’s National Executive. Narwekar also rejected the changes in the leadership structure by Thackeray in 2018, saying they were not in conformity with the Shiv Sena Constitution of 1999, nor was there a record of these amendments with the Election Commission.
Further, the Speaker held that the then Chief Whip Sunil Prabhu ceased to reflect the will of the party to continue in the post, as Bharat Gogawale was the validly elected Chief Whip after the rival faction emerged in the party on June 21, 2022.
The Speaker's much-awaited verdict came as a major blow to Uddhav Thackeray who lost the original Shiv Sena founded by his father, the late Balasaheb Thackeray, to Shinde. With the cross-petitions of both sides getting dismissed by the Speaker, Thackeray’s legislative flock of 13 MLAs -- among them his son and ex-Minister Aditya Thackeray -- have not been disqualified and will continue till the remainder of their terms.
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