Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar on Friday decided to consolidate the cross-petitions filed by rival Shiv Sena factions, both seeking disqualification of each other’s legislators following a split in the party last year.
The Shiv Sena, founded by the late Bal Thackeray, split in June last year following a rebellion by senior leader Eknath Shinde, who went on to become Chief Minister after unseating the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government.
The Thackeray faction subsequently sought the disqualification of several MLAs, including Mr. Shinde, citing anti-defection laws. Similar disqualification petitions have been filed by the Shinde group against lawmakers aligned with the rival faction, including Mr. Uddhav Thackeray’s son Aaditya Thackeray.
This decision to club all the petitions was made during a hearing on the matter. The ruling Shiv Sena of Chief Minister Shinde and the rival faction led by former CM Uddhav Thackeray have been granted until October 25 to submit their written replies to the petitions they filed with the Speaker’s office. The hearing is scheduled for October 26.
Sunil Prabhu, an MLA from the Shiv Sena (UBT), said that the Speaker’s ruling entails the merging of all disqualification petitions to hear them together.
The Thackeray faction moved the top court in July seeking direction to the State Assembly Speaker to expeditiously adjudicate the disqualification petitions in a time-bound manner. They also urged Mr. Narwekar that all cross-petitions be clubbed to expedite the process. It was, however, contested by the Shinde-led Shiv Sena, which advocated for separate hearings of each petition.
This move of the Speaker comes days after the Supreme Court granted him a final opportunity to provide a “realistic timeframe” for deciding the petitions. The Supreme Court on Tuesday said the petitions have to be adjudicated expeditiously.
In July, Mr. Narwekar had issued notices to 40 MLAs of the Mr. Shinde-led Sena and 14 of the Thackeray faction, seeking their replies on disqualification petitions against them. The list of MLAs included Mr. Thackeray’s son and UBT-Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray.
In February, the Election Commission allotted the name ‘Shiv Sena’ and the party’s bow and arrow symbol to the Shinde-led faction of the Shiv Sena, in effect recognising it as the original party founded by Balasaheb Thackeray. On May 11, the Supreme Court ruled that Mr. Shinde will continue to be the Chief Minister of Maharashtra and said it cannot reinstate the Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition government headed by Mr. Thackeray as the latter chose to resign without facing a floor test in the wake of Mr. Shinde’s rebellion.
