Disqualification of Sena (UBT) MLAs: HC issues notices to Narwekar, Uddhav camp’s chief whip

Bombay HC issues notices to assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar and Shiv Sena chief whip Sunil Prabhu in a petition challenging the refusal to disqualify 14 MLAs.

The Bombay high court on Wednesday issued notices to assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar and the chief whip of Shiv Sena (UBT), Sunil Prabhu, while hearing a petition filed by the Eknath Shinde faction that challenged Narwekar’s refusal to disqualify the 14 MLAs from Uddhav Thackeray’s group.

Mumbai, Jan 11 (ANI): Maharashtra Speaker Rahul Narwekar speaks to the media on his verdict on Maharashtra MLAs, in Mumbai on Thursday. (ANI Photo) (ANI)

A division bench of Justice Girish Kulkarni and Justice Firdosh Pooniwalla has directed the respondents to file their replies before the next date of hearing, February 8.

Reacting to the development, Prabhu said all the 14 MLAs from Sena (UBT) will collectively fight this legal battle.

“We will explain to HC in our reply that the Supreme Court had termed the appointment of Bharat Gogawale as chief whip ‘illegal’, and he had no authority to issue a whip to us,” he said.

On January 10, Narwekar declared Shinde’s faction the real “Shiv Sena” but dismissed 34 petitions seeking disqualification of 54 MLAs from both factions.

Gogavale, chief whip of the Shinde-led Shiv Sena, approached the high court on Monday.

The petitioner asserted that on July 3, 2022, the speaker recognised him as the chief whip of the Shiv Sena, and the next day he issued a whip to all the 54 MLAs to vote in favour of the Eknath Shinde government during a no-confidence motion on that day. However, he said, the 14 members of the Thackeray faction joined hands with the Nationalist Congress Party and Congress and voted against “their own government” in violation of anti-defection provisions, and thus tried to destabilise the Shiv Sena government.

Gogavale contended that the speaker did not recognise that the 14 MLAs had voluntarily given up their Shiv Sena membership after they failed to follow the whip issued by him. He demanded that they be disqualified under schedule 10 of the constitution, which contains the anti-defection law.

Moreover, since the speaker acknowledged Shinde’s faction as the real Shiv Sena, he should have disqualified the other faction members, the petitioner said and added that the speaker’s dismissal of the allegations as mere assertions was inherently illegal and unsustainable.

This legal battle stems from a power struggle that unfolded in 2022 when Shinde, backed by several MLAs, staged a rebellion and staked a claim to form the government with the support of BJP. The Supreme Court in June ordered a floor test, and Shinde cleared it on July 4, thus solidifying his position as chief minister.

The political turmoil continued with the Election Commission of India freezing Shiv Sena’s bow-and-arrow symbol in October 2022 and later granting it to the Shinde faction in February 2023. Thackeray received a legal setback in May 2023 when a five-judge constitution bench, citing his pre-floor test resignation from CM post, rejected the faction’s plea to disqualify the Shinde-led government.

The apex court on December 15, 2023, extended the speaker’s deadline to decide on the disqualification petitions to January 10, 2024. Challenging the speaker’s verdict, the Thackeray faction moved the Supreme Court on Monday.