Shiv Sena MLA Disqualification: Bombay HC Issues Notices on Shinde’s Faction Pleas

The Bombay High Court issued notices on Wednesday to Maharashtra Speaker Rahul Narwekar and the 14 MLAs of the Uddhav Thackeray group. This action follows petitions filed by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena challenging Narwekar’s order not to disqualify the lawmakers.

A division bench of Justices Girish Kulkarni and Firdosh Pooniwalla also issued notices to the Maharashtra Legislature Secretariat and directed all respondents to file their affidavits for the petition. The court scheduled the matter for a hearing on February 8.

Bharat Gogavale, the chief whip of Shinde-led Shiv Sena, filed petitions against the 14 MLAs challenging the “legality, propriety, and correctness” of the January 10 order by Speaker Narwekar, which dismissed disqualification petitions against the lawmakers from the rival camp. Gogavale seeks the High Court to declare the speaker’s order as legally flawed, quash it, and disqualify all 14 MLAs from the Thackeray group – Sena (UBT).

The court clarified that, as per a new practice, all matters filed are taken up for hearing within a day or two. The petitions, one against each of the 14 MLAs, were filed on January 12. The court emphasized the importance of auto-listing to expedite proceedings.

In the petitions, Gogavale argued that on July 3, 2022, he had issued a whip to all Shiv Sena members to vote in favor of the Shinde government during the confidence motion in the assembly on July 4, 2022. However, the 14 Uddhav Thackeray MLAs not only violated the whip but also voluntarily gave up the membership of the Shiv Sena Political Party through their actions.

Gogavale asserted that the Speaker failed to consider that, apart from giving up membership, the Thackeray group MLAs also voted against the Shiv Sena government to destabilize the ruling dispensation.

While Gogavale moved HC on January 12, the Uddhav Thackeray faction on Monday filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the Speaker’s order declaring the Sena bloc led by CM Shinde as the “real political party” after its split in June 2022.

The petitions argued that since the Speaker held that Eknath Shinde represents the real Shiv Sena, he should have disqualified the 14 Sena (UBT) MLAs for their actions against the party. The final order passed by the Speaker erroneously concludes that the grounds raised by Gogavale are mere allegations and assertions, which the petitions deem ex facie illegal and unsustainable.

In a significant political victory for Shinde, Narwekar on January 10 held that the Shiv Sena faction led by him was the “real political party” when rival groups emerged in June 2022 and did not disqualify any MLA from the two camps.