Shiv Sena did not leave, then why did go to the Election Commission? Kapil Sibal's question to the Shinde group in the Supreme Court
By Lokmat English Desk | Published: August 4, 2022 02:59 PM2022-08-04T14:59:59+5:302022-08-04T14:59:59+5:30
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Hearing on 5 petitions including disqualification of 16 MLAs is going on in the Supreme Court. After Eknath Shinde rebelled, the MLAs who accompanied him were disqualified by the Assembly Speaker. The Shinde group challenged him in court. Shinde supported MLAs.
The lawyers of the Shinde group said that they brought the case to the Supreme Court instead of going to the High Court due to the safety of the MLAs. The court adjourned the hearing till July 11 while the hearing of the case is going on. But during this period, the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra collapsed.
BJP's Rahul Narvekar became the Speaker of the Vidhan Sabha. In all these developments, we are the Shiv Sena consistently from the Shinde group. It is being said that we have not left the party or taken any anti-party action. Kapil Sibal from Shiv Sena and Shinde Group from Supreme Court.
In this hearing, Kapil Sibal argued that the Shinde group claims to have the support of 40 out of 55 MLAs, but if these MLAs are disqualified, what is the basis for their claim? How can MLAs claim to be a political party if they are disqualified?
So none of us left the party. No action was taken against the party. We have only demanded change of our leader. A leader who has a majority cannot be removed by a leader who does not have a majority. We are Shiv Sena. How disqualified if absent from party meeting?
While the arguments on both sides are going on, Kapil Sibal directly said that if you are saying that Shiv Sena has not left then why did you go to the Election Commission?
According to the 10th Schedule of the Constitution, if a group splits with two-thirds of its members, it is bound to merge with another party or form a new party. Ignoring this provision will not work. If rebels are given refuge, the very purpose of the Prohibition of Defection Act will be defeated.
Some MLAs took a different stand to replace the Shiv Sena leader. How does this come under the purview of the Defection Act? This issue is basically not an anti-party issue but an intra-party issue. Democracy is meant in political party. It is right that all the power should remain with the party leader.
Along with this, there should be democracy in the party. A political party can have two factions. In 1969 there were two factions in the Congress too. Salve argued how dissenting from the views of the party chief could violate the Anti-Defection Act. Such as the Defection Act.
Due to the adjournment of the court, the Assembly Speaker did not take a decision on the disqualification. But Salve argued that we did not leave the party then how can we be disqualified. The court said that political parties cannot be completely ignored. This matter before the Constitutional Court.
