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Uddhav Thackeray moves SC over Maharashtra speaker's ‘real Sena’ order
The Maharashtra speaker had also rejected Uddhav faction's plea seeking the disqualification of 16 legislators belonging to the Shinde camp.
The Shiv Sena faction led by former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday moved the Supreme Court over assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar's decision to recognise the Eknath Shinde-led faction as the ‘real Shiv Sena’.
The Maharashtra speaker had also rejected Uddhav faction's plea seeking the disqualification of 16 legislators belonging to the Shinde camp.
On January 10, Narwekar had announced that the Shinde faction was the real Shiv Sena after the party founded by Bal Thackeray split in 2022. The speaker had also ruled that Thackeray had no power to remove Shinde, who is currently the chief minister, as the legislature party leader according to the Shiv Sena constitution.
The speaker had also declared that no party leadership can use provisions of the 10th Schedule of the Constitution (anti-defection law) to quell dissent or indiscipline within a party.
The Eknath Shinde group had the support of 37 out of the total 54 Sena MLAs when 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.
Calling it an insult to the Supreme Court, Thackeray had claimed that the speaker did not understand the mandate. “I think the Assembly Speaker did not understand the mandate -- what he was asked to do. It was a simple case of disqualification. The Supreme Court laid down a framework but the Speaker thought he was above the Supreme Court and came up with his own court and verdict,” the Sena (UBT) chief, who was forced to step down as chief minister in 2022 when Shinde rebelled with the help of BJP, said.
