Mumbai: Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar has upheld the legitimacy of Eknath Shinde's leadership within the Shiv Sena faction, rejecting disqualification appeals against both factions led by Shinde and Uddhav Thackeray.
The Speaker ruled that Shinde's group constituted the true Shiv Sena when the rift emerged on June 22, 2022.
Refusing to disqualify any member from either faction, Narwekar highlighted the faction's overwhelming majority of 37 out of 55 MLAs held by Shinde when the rival factions arose. He emphasised Shinde's valid appointment as the party leader and dismissed Uddhav Thackeray's authority to remove Shinde from the party, reported Live Law.
Narwekar based his decision on the 1999 Constitution of the Party, citing its dilution of the party chief's power. He noted that the 2018 Constitution, consolidating authority in the hands of the party chief, was not recorded with the Election Commission and hence couldn't be considered in his judgement.
Additionally, the Speaker declined to disqualify the 40 members from the Shinde-led faction, reasoning that Sunil Prabhu, the authorised whip of the party until June 21, had no authority to convene a party meeting. Thus, the Shinde-faction MLAs' non-attendance at the meeting was perceived as dissent within the party, protected under freedom of speech.
Moreover, Bharat Goghavle was validated as the whip, although Narwekar declined to disqualify Uddhav-led members for violating Goghavle's whip, asserting that Shinde's faction failed to substantiate serving the whip to UBT faction MLAs.
The Supreme Court, dissatisfied with the Speaker's delay, initially set a December 31, 2023, deadline for the petitions' resolution, later extended to January 10, 2024.
Uddhav Thackeray expressed concerns about the Speaker's decision, questioning its alignment with the Supreme Court's directives and hinted at a legal challenge.
Thackeray criticised Narwekar's decision as an insult to the Supreme Court and an undermining of democracy, indicating a potential case of contempt against the Speaker. He alleged collusion between Narwekar and the Shinde faction and announced plans to contest the Speaker's decision in court. Thackeray questioned the Speaker's authority, citing discrepancies between the versions of the party constitution.
"It is an insult to the Supreme Court and murder of democracy. The way he made Narvekar sit, it was clear that he was in collusion. I had expressed my doubts yesterday that this is a ploy to kill democracy... We will see whether a case of contempt of the Supreme Court can be made out or not," he said.
"If our Constitution is not valid, then why were we not disqualified? He (the Speaker) has made a thief the master of the House," he added.
He further said: "He has given a decision that exceeds the brief of the Supreme Court. The court had given a framework, but he distorted it into something else... He thinks he is above the Supreme Court. How can a tribunal be above the court? He should have made laws against party hopping stricter. Instead, he was busy clearing a path for himself."
The split within the Shiv Sena emerged in June 2022, leading to the formation of a new government with the BJP by the Shinde-led faction. Despite the petitions from both factions, the Speaker dismissed the disqualification pleas, asserting that intra-party dissent should not be stifled using legislative provisions.