The Supreme Court on Monday stated that it will hear a plea by the Sharad Pawar-led faction of the Nationalist Congress Party on October 13 for a direction to the Maharashtra assembly speaker to expeditiously decide the disqualification petitions against deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar and party MLAs loyal to him.
The matter came up for hearing before a bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, which stated that it will be heard along with a separate pending petition on Shiv Sena MLAs.
The bench stated in the pending matter, the top court asked the assembly speaker to spell out the timeline for adjudication of the disqualification petitions against Shiv Sena MLAs owing allegiance to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
The bench, also comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra stated, “What we will do is we will list that matter and this matter on Friday (October 13).”
Previously on September 18, the apex court asked Maharashtra assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar to fix a timeline within a week for adjudication of the disqualification petitions filed against Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Shiv Sena MLAs loyal to him who tied up with the BJP to form a new government in June 2022.
During the brief hearing on Monday, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for petitioner Jayant Patil, stated that the disqualification petitions were filed with the speaker on July 2 but no notice was issued on them till date.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing the opposite faction, said one disqualification petition was filed in September and notice has been issued on it.
The bench stated that it will hear the matter on October 9 along with the pending petition.
In July, the Sharad Pawar faction of the NCP moved the Maharashtra assembly speaker seeking disqualification of Ajit Pawar and 8 other MLAs, who took oath as ministers of the Shinde government.
On September 18, the apex court, while hearing the matter pertaining to Shiv Sena MLAs, referred to its May 11 verdict on last year’s political crisis in Maharashtra and the direction it issued to the speaker to decide the disqualification petitions within a reasonable time.
The court asked solicitor general Tushar Mehta to apprise the bench of the time schedule to be fixed by the speaker for deciding the pleas for disqualification of 56 MLAs including lawmakers belonging to the Shinde faction.
On October 6, the Election Commission met the warring factions of the NCP led by Sharad Pawar and his nephew Ajit Pawar over claims to the party’s name and poll symbol.
Ajit Pawar, who had moved the Election Commission staking claim to the party name and election symbol, asserted that he had the support of 42 of the 53 NCP MLAs in Maharashtra, 6 of the 9 MLCs, all 7 MLAs in Nagaland and one member each in the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha.
Furthermore, the Sharad Pawar-led faction told the poll panel there was no dispute in the party and that a few mischievous individuals have defected from the organisation for their personal ambitions.
Ajit Pawar, then the leader of the opposition in the Maharashtra assembly, had rebelled against Sharad Pawar in July this year, and joined the Shiv Sena-BJP government.
