Shiv Sena Row: Bombay High Court Issues Notices To 14 Uddhav Faction MLAs, Speaker On Shinde Faction's Pleas For Disqualification

The Bombay High Court has issued notice to all the respondents in petitions filed by CM Eknath Shinde-led faction's pleas challenging Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker's refusal to disqualify 14 MLAs of the Uddhav Thackeray faction.

The respondents include the 14 MLAs, speaker Rahul Narwekar and the Maharashtra Legislature Secretariat.

A division bench comprising Justices GS Kulkarni and Firdosh Phiroze Pooniwalla dictated in the order, “Issue notices on these petitions to the respondents returnable on February 1, 2023.”

The matter will now be heard next on February 8, 2024.

On January 10, 2024 Narwekar declared that the Eknath Shinde-led faction was the real Shiv Sena when the party split on June 22, 2022. However, he dismissed petitions filed by both factions seeking disqualification of MLAs of the other faction.

Narwekar declared Bharat Gogavle of the Shinde faction as the valid whip but refused to disqualify members of Uddhav Thackeray faction for violating the whip, stating that Shinde's faction failed to prove that the whip for the confidence vote was served on UBT faction MLAs.

“It is apparent from the records that the Petitioner had sufficiently placed on record evidence to support that the whip was not only electronically delivered to the Respondents herein but a copy of the same was duly delivered by the Petitioner himself via the 'Pigeon hole' of the office of the Respondents in the Assembly Office. It is relevant to note that this physical delivery of the whip was done only after seeking due permission received from the Hon'ble Speaker under Rule 19 of Maharashtra Legislative Rule, 1960”, the petition states.

Bharat Gogavale's plea seeks disqualification of the MLAs of the UBT faction. The petition states that the MLAs are disqualified as they voluntarily gave up party membership and voted against the Shinde government in the confidence vote in order to topple it in cahoots with NCP and INC MLAs.

Significantly, the faction led by Uddhav Thackeray has moved the Supreme Court challenging the Speaker's decision insofar as it recognized Eknath Shinde group as the real Shiv Sena and refused to disqualify the members of Shinde faction for defection as per the tenth schedule of the Constitution.

Background

The party split occurred on June 21, 2022, when Eknath Shinde, a cabinet minister in the Maharashtra Government, rebelled against Uddhav Thackeray, leading to the fall of the Maha Vikas Agadhi Government. Disqualification pleas were filed against Shinde and other MLAs, resulting in legal battles and petitions in the Supreme Court. A total of 34 petitions were filed in 2022, seeking the disqualification of total 54 MLAs from both sides.

On May 11, 2023, the Supreme Court held that the Governor's earlier decision to order the floor test for the Maha Vikas Aghadi government, as well as the Speaker's decision to appoint the whip nominated by the Shinde group, was incorrect. The court could not order the restoration of the Uddhav Thackeray government as he resigned without facing a floor test. Since Thackeray voluntarily resigned, the court held that the Governor was right in inviting Ekanth Shinde to form the government with the support of the BJP.

The SC directed the Speaker to rely on the original constitution of the Shiv Sena party and consider the version submitted to the Election Commission before the factions emerged. The court emphasized that the Speaker must determine the real Shiv Sena without being influenced by the ECI's order giving the 'Shiv Sena' name and bow and arrow to the Shinde-led faction and must recognize only the legitimate whip appointed by the political party.

The case before the Speaker concluded during the Winter Session in Nagpur. The Uddhav Thackeray-led faction alleged that rebelling Shinde faction MLAs violated party whips, while Shinde's faction claimed they never received formal whips telling them how to vote in the trust vote for Shinde government.

Speaker's Decision

The Uddhav Thackeray had faction contended that the party's chief's decision reflected the party's will, but the Speaker, disagreeing, emphasized that Shinde's faction had a substantial majority when the factions emerged.

The Speaker held that Uddhav Thackeray's will could not be considered the will of the entire political party, citing the 1999 Constitution that diluted the party chief's power. The 2018 Constitution, which concentrated power in the party chief, was not on the Election Commission's record and was therefore not considered. The Speaker stated that Uddhav Thackeray lacked the authority to remove Eknath Shinde as the party leader.

Regarding the disqualification petitions against Shinde's faction, the Speaker ruled that Sunil Prabhu, the whip, had lost authority before calling a party meeting, making the whip invalid. The Speaker considered the non-attendance of Shinde's faction at the meeting as an act of dissent within the party, protected by freedom of speech and expression. He emphasized that the 10th Schedule should not be used to impose intra-party discipline, and party members cannot expect the Speaker to stifle dissent within the party.

Appearances – Senior Advocates Ravi Kadam & Anil Singh, along with Advocates Chirag Shah & Utsav Trivedi