'Maha' blowfor Uddhav as Speaker favours Shinde Sena

Mumbai: In a big political win for Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar on Wednesday 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, a verdict that adds another chapter in the Sena legacy war.

In his 105-minute-long reading of the ruling on the cross-petitions by Shiv Sena factions seeking disqualification of each other's MLAs following a split in the party in 2022, Narwekar also rejected the Uddhav Thackeray faction's petition to disqualify 16 MLAs of the ruling group, including Shinde.

The ruling cemented Shinde place in the top job, 18 months after his rebellion, and added to his political heft in the ruling coalition which also consists of the BJP and the NCP (Ajit Pawar group) ahead of the Lok Sabha polls in summer and assembly elections in Maharashtra, which are due in the second half of 2024.

As Narwekar finished reading the order, celebrations broke out among Chief Minister Shinde's supporters, who burst firecrackers.

Narwekar said no party leadership can use provisions of 10th schedule of Constitution (antidefection law) for dissent or indiscipline within a party.

“All the petitions seeking disqualification of MLAs are rejected. No MLA is being disqualified,” Narwekar said.

The Speaker also held that the Shiv Sena ‘pramukh' (chief) did not have the power to remove any leader from the party.

He also did not accept the argument that the will of the party chief and the will of the party were synonymous.

Uddhav Sena will move top court

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray reacted angrily to the verdict and termed it as a "murder of democracy," adding that his party will move the Supreme Court against it.

Thackeray said the apex court had given clear guidelines, but those were ignored by the Speaker.

The original case was about disqualification under the anti-defection law, but not one lawmaker from either side was disqualified, the former CM said.

"The foundation on which the order stands is wrong," he said. (PTI)