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Maharashtra Speaker refuses to disqualify Thackeray's MLAs; what's Sena (UBT)'s strength in assembly
The Shiv Sena led by Shinde had demanded the disqualification of fourteen MLAs, barring Aaditya Thackeray and Rutuja Latke.
New Delhi: The Eknath Shinde faction was the real Shiv Sena when the party witnessed a vertical split on June 21, 2022, Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar said on Wednesday, while announcing his verdict in the MLAs' disqualification case. He also rejected the Eknath Shinde faction's demand for the disqualification of 14 out of 16 MLAs, who are loyal to Uddhav Thackeray.
"Shinde faction was the real Shiv Sena political party when rival factions emerged on 21st June 2022. Also in my view, the 2018 leadership structure (submitted with ECI) was not as per the Shiv Sena Constitution. Shiv Sena party chief as per the party Constitution can not remove anyone from the party. So Uddhav Thackeray removed Eknath Shinde or any party leader from the party as per the party Constitution. So the removal of Eknath Shinde by Uddhav Thackeray in June 2022 is not accepted based on the Shiv Sena Constitution," he said.
With this, the number of Shiv Sena (UBT) MLAs in the Maharashtra Assembly stands at 16.
The Shiv Sena led by Shinde had demanded the disqualification of fourteen MLAs, barring Aaditya Thackeray and Rutuja Latke.
The two were left out of disqualification action as the Shinde faction had, right from the start, excluded Aaditya Thackeray’s name from the disqualification notice. This is because Aaditya is the grandson of Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray and whom Shinde considers as one of his political gurus.
Also read: Why is Shinde faction real Shiv Sena? 10 reasons Speaker gave | Explained
Narwekar today said the disqualification plea stands dismissed as the whip was not physically delivered to them.
In 2019 assembly elections the Shiv Sena had won 56 seats.
In 2022, when Shinde broke away from then Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, he had the support of 38 MLAs. Thackeray had the support of 16 MLAs.
He had filed disqualification proceedings against Shinde and his 38 rebels. The party's chief whip Bharat Gogawale later moved a counter petition demanding the disqualification of 14 MLAs.
He also refused to disqualify the Shinde camp's MLAs.
The Supreme Court had last month asked the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar to deliver his judgment on disqualification petitions filed by Shiv Sena factions of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Uddhav Thackeray by January 10.
