Today, March 7th, the Supreme Court summoned original records from the Speaker’s Office and scheduled a hearing for the dispute between two factions of the Shiv Sena party, known as “Sena vs. . Sena.”
New Delhi: Today (on 7th March), the Supreme Court of India summoned original documents concerning the plea filed by the Uddhav Thackeray group, which seeks the disqualification of several MLAs, including Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, from the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.
Speaker Rahul Narwekar’s January 10 order, where he declared the Shiv Sena bloc led by Shinde as the “legitimate political party” following its split in June 2022. Additionally, the Speaker dismissed the Thackeray faction’s request to disqualify 16 MLAs from the ruling camp, which included Shinde.
A panel comprising Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala, and Justice Manoj Misra decided to retrieve the original records after allegations of forgery surfaced from the Shinde faction against the Thackeray camp.
The Supreme Court, having previously issued notice on the Thackeray group’s petition, instructed Shinde and his MLAs to submit a response by April 1, with the final hearing scheduled for April 8. The bench clarified that it would deliberate on the petition’s maintainability.
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Earlier, on January 22, the Apex Court had solicited responses from the chief minister and other legislators of his faction regarding the plea. The Thackeray faction, represented by MLA Sunil Prabhu, contends that Shinde unlawfully seized power and currently leads an unconstitutional government. However, the Shinde group gained the support of 37 out of the total 54 Sena MLAs during the party’s split in June 2022, according to the Speaker’s observations.
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The Thackeray faction, in its petition filed through MLA Sunil Prabhu, has alleged that Shinde “unconstitutionally usurped power” and is heading an “unconstitutional government.”.
The Election Commission allocated the ‘Shiv Sena’ name and its iconic ‘bow and arrow’ symbol to the Shinde faction in early 2023.
