Khushi Bhuta, Pune
The Supreme Court is to hear the plea of the Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray (UBT) faction of the Shiv Sena’s Sunil Prabhu on March 7. Prabhu has said in his plea that a Maharashtra Assembly Speaker’s orders were unlawful, perverse, and in conflict with the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Subhash Desai v. Governor of Maharashtra (2022) case.
UBT has alleged that Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde has “unconstitutionally usurped power” while running an “unconstitutional government” in the state. In the plea, they stated that “there could not have been a clearer case of disqualification. Shinde met the Governor and took the oath as Chief Minister with the support of the BJP on June 30, 2022, and all the respondent MLAs supported this decision, which itself amounted to voluntarily giving up membership in the political party.”
The plea is opposing the dismissal of disqualification petitions against the camp of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde by the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker, who declared them to be the “real” Shiv Sena. The appeal will be heard on March 7, as indicated by the Chief Justice of India, D.Y. Chandrachud, on Friday. In front of the three-judge bench chaired by the CJI, the UBT faction will be represented by senior advocate Kapil Sibal, whereas the Eknath Shinde faction will be represented by senior advocate Harish Salve.
On January 10, Maharashtra Speaker Rahul Narwekar made his verdict, almost two years after the camp of Mr. Thackeray filed disqualification petitions against Mr. Shinde and the lawmakers who supported him in June 2022, citing the Tenth Schedule (anti-defection law) of the Constitution. Based on the legislative majority that Mr. Shinde’s faction had attained when the other factions first surfaced, the Speaker claimed to have determined that Mr. Shinde’s faction was the “real political party.”
The top court ordered the plea to be listed on February 12. On Monday, there was no hearing scheduled for the subject, though. CM Shinde and the other 38 MLAs were given a two-week deadline by the Supreme Court to respond to a notice they had previously issued in the case. The petition contests the dismissal of the disqualification petitions that were brought against Chief Minister Shinde and other MLAs affiliated with his party as well.