The Supreme Court on Wednesday, January 17, deferred the hearing on plea of Uddhav Thackeray faction of Shiv Sena zgainst the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker’s decision refusing to disqualify 16 MLAs to January 22.
The Uddhav faction had moved the Supreme Court challenging Speaker Rahul Narwekar's order declaring the Sena bloc led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde as the "real political party" after its split in June 2022. The Thackeray faction has alleged that Shinde has "unconstitutionally usurped power" and is heading an "unconstitutional government" in Maharashtra.
In its order passed on January 10, the Speaker had also rejected the Thackeray faction's plea to disqualify 16 MLAs of the ruling camp, including Shinde.
As an interim relief, the petition has sought an ex-parte stay on the operation and effect of the January 10 order passed by the Speaker. It has also sought interim relief restraining the Shinde faction from issuing directions to the group of Shiv Sena MLAs led by Thackeray.
The Speaker order has cemented Shinde's position as the chief minister, 18 months after he led a rebellion against Thackeray, and added to his political heft in the ruling coalition, which also consists of the BJP and the NCP (Ajit Pawar group), ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in summer and state assembly elections due in the second half of 2024.
The Shinde group had the support of 37 out of the total 54 Sena MLAs when the party split in June 2022, the speaker had noted. The Election Commission had given the 'Shiv Sena' name and 'bow and arrow' symbol to the Shinde-led faction in early 2023.
Witb inputs from PTI
First Published: Jan 17, 2024 2:53 PM IST
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