Speaker’s refusal to disqualify Sena (UBT) MLAs challenged in HC

The Shiv Sena has moved the Bombay High Court to challenge the rejection of their plea to disqualify 14 members who showed allegiance to Uddhav Thackeray. Chief whip Bharat Gogavale filed the petition, claiming the Speaker had erred in refusing to disqualify the members for violating the party whip. The legal battle stems from a power struggle in 2022 when Eknath Shinde became Chief Minister with the support of the BJP.

MUMBAI: The Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena on Monday moved the Bombay high court, challenging speaker Rahul Narwekar’s rejection of their plea to disqualify 14 members of the legislative assembly who showed allegiance to rival faction leader Uddhav Thackeray. Chief whip Bharat Gogavale filed the petition on behalf of the party, claiming that the speaker had erred in refusing to disqualify the members for violating the party whip issued on July 3, 2022.

HT Image

On January 10, Narwekar declared Eknath Shinde’s faction the real “Shiv Sena”, but dismissed 34 petitions seeking disqualification of 54 MLAs from the rival factions, 14 of these from the Shiv Sena (UBT). Gogavale contended that the Speaker had failed to recognise that the 14 MLAs had voluntarily given up Shiv Sena membership, as they failed to follow the whip issued by him. He demanded that they be disqualified under Schedule 10 of the Constitution.

Gogavale asserted that on July 3, 2022, the speaker recognised him as the chief whip of the Shiv Sena, and accordingly the next day he issued a whip to all the 55 party MLAs to vote in favour of the Eknath Shinde government during the scheduled no-confidence motion on July 4. He added that the whip was served on all MLAs of the party, but members of the Thackeray faction joined hands with NCP and Congress members and voted against “their own government” in violation of anti-defection provisions, and thus tried to destabilise the Shiv Sena government.

Moreover, Gogavale contended that since the speaker acknowledged Shinde’s faction as the real Shiv Sena, he should have disqualified the Thackeray faction members. He 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 Eknath Shinde, backed by several MLAs, staged a rebellion with the support of the BJP and staked a claim to the Maharashtra government. Following a Supreme Court-approved floor test in June 2022, he became chief minister, solidifying his position with a victory in the subsequent assembly floor test on July 4, 2022.

The political turmoil continued with the Election Commission freezing the Shiv Sena’s bow-and-arrow symbol in October 2022 and later granting it to the Shinde faction in February 2023. A significant legal setback for Uddhav Thackeray occurred in May 2023 when a five-judge Constitution bench, citing Uddhav’s pre-floor test resignation, rejected the faction’s plea to disqualify the Shinde-led Maharashtra government.

As the legal battles persisted, on December 15, 2023, the Supreme Court extended the speaker’s deadline to decide on the disqualification petitions to January 10, 2024. After his verdict, the Uddhav Thackeray faction moved the Supreme Court on Monday to challenge the decision, emphasising the Speaker’s disagreement over party will versus majority representation.