Raut slams Ex-CJI Chandrachud: 'Fear of law removed for political defectors'

Mumbai: Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Sunday launched a scathing attack on former Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud, accusing him of removing the fear of the law from politicians who defected from parties in Maharashtra. Raut claimed that Chandrachud, by delaying the decision on disqualification petitions, kept open the doors for defections, ultimately contributing to the political turmoil in the state.

Raut's remarks came after his party suffered a crushing defeat in the recent Maharashtra assembly elections. The Shiv Sena (UBT), which contested 95 seats as part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance, managed to secure only 20 seats. Its allies, Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), fared no better, with Congress winning just 16 out of 101 seats, and NCP securing 10 out of 86 seats.

Raut alleged that Chandrachud’s failure to resolve the disqualification petitions had enabled the defection of Shiv Sena MLAs to the Eknath Shinde-led faction. The petitions, filed by Uddhav Thackeray’s faction following the party’s split in 2022, were referred to the Speaker of the Maharashtra assembly, who, earlier this year, ruled that the Shinde faction was the "real political party" in Shiv Sena.

Raut also suggested that the election results had been "pre-decided," and that had the petitions been resolved in a timely manner, the outcome might have been different. He expressed his discontent, stating that while the party was saddened by the results, it was not discouraged. Raut claimed that the division of votes and the role of the RSS in the election played a major part in the outcome. He accused the RSS of running a "poisonous campaign" that negatively affected the party's chances.

In his weekly column “Rokhthok” in the Shiv Sena (UBT) mouthpiece 'Saamana', Raut further criticized the Election Commission for turning a blind eye to the influence of money power in the elections. He also claimed that the courts in India had been in an "ICU for a long time," implying that the judicial system had failed to deliver timely justice.

Raut’s attack on Chandrachud and his comments on the election results highlight the growing political rift in Maharashtra and the ongoing tensions within the Shiv Sena (UBT) following its split and the controversial defections of party MLAs.

With PTI input