Speaker begins hearing in NCP disqualification case, likely to seek additional time from SC

Maharashtra assembly speaker, Rahul Narwekar, is likely to seek more time from the Supreme Court to deliver his verdict in the case related to the disqualification of MLAs from the Nationalist Congress Party. The hearing process is expected to be completed by January 26, but the speaker's office will require more time to prepare the judgment.

MUMBAI: With less than a fortnight left for the Supreme Court deadline, Maharashtra assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar is likely to seek more time to deliver his verdict in the case related to the disqualification of MLAs from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Narwekar, who initiated the process of hearing on Tuesday, is likely to seek over a week from the apex court. Officials said this was necessary since the speaker’s office would get barely four days to prepare the judgment even if the final arguments were completed by January 26.

HT Image

The hearing process began in the central hall of the state legislature building, with Narwekar asking both sides to propose issues that needed to be framed, based on which the actual hearing could be started. “Both the sides have mainly proposed that two issues need to be determined: one, who the original party belongs to and two, whether the MLAs from the opposite faction attract Section 2(1)(A) of the Tenth Schedule and can be disqualified accordingly,” said a senior official from the state legislature.

Narwekar will now decide the issues and inform both the parties. Based on these issues, the actual hearing in the case will start from January 20.

The NCP case is slightly different from that of the Shiv Sena, as neither of the NCP factions has issued a whip for voting during the speaker’s election or for a vote of confidence. Section 2(1)(B) of the Tenth Schedule, therefore, does not apply in their case.

The speaker has also decided to fast-track the hearing by completing the final arguments by January 26 and not January 27 as previously decided. “The actual hearing in the case will commence on January 20 and continue on January 21 and 23. The final arguments will be concluded on January 25 and 26,” the official pointed out.

The apex court has mandated the speaker to announce his verdict by January 31. Going by the fresh schedule, the hearing process is likely to be completed by January 26, but it will be difficult for the speaker’s office to prepare the judgment in four days. “The speaker himself said that he would require at least another eight days to pronounce the verdict and is thus planning to seek additional time from the Supreme Court,” another official said.

After a split led by deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, Sharad Pawar, chief of the original, undivided party, filed disqualification petitions against 40 of the 53 MLAs and five MLCs. In retaliation, the Ajit-led camp has also filed disqualification petitions against 10 NCP MLAs and three MLCs. It has also filed a petition before the Election Commission of India, seeking permission to use the party’s name and election symbol. The verdict in the case is expected to come soon.