Speaker move to not disqualify pro-Uddhav MLAs 'bad in law': Shinde-led Sena pleas in HC

Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena has moved the Bombay High Court challenging the legality of the decision taken by the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker to not disqualify 14 MLAs belonging to the rival faction headed by former CM Uddhav Thackeray.

Petitions filed on January 12 by Bharat Gogavale, the chief whip of the ruling Shiv Sena against the 14 MLAs, said they were challenging the ”legality, propriety and correctness” of the January 10 order passed by Speaker Rahul Narwekar dismissing the disqualification petitions submitted by him against the rival camp Assembly members.

Gogavale has sought the HC to declare the Speaker’s order as ”bad in law”, quash it and disqualify all the 14 MLAs of the Shiv Sena (UBT) from the lower house of the state legislature.

As per the HC’s website, the petitions would be taken up for hearing on January 22.

In the pleas, Gogavale said on July 3, 2022, he had issued a whip to all Shiv Sena members to vote in favour of the Shinde-led government for the confidence motion to be moved in the Assembly on July 4, 2022, following a split in the party which led to the collapse of the Thackeray-headed Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) dispensation.

However, the 14 MLAs of the Thackeray faction not only violated the whip, but also voluntarily gave up the membership of the ”Shiv Sena political party” by their acts and omissions.

Gogavale, in his petitions, maintained the Speaker had failed to consider that along with giving up the membership, the MLAs also voted against the new Shiv Sena dispensation in cahoots with the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (both allies of Thackeray) in order to destabilize the government in Maharashtra.

While Gogavale moved the HC on January 12, the Thackeray faction on Monday (January 15) filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the Speaker’s order declaring the Sena group led by Chief Minister Shinde as the ”real political party” after its split in June 2022.

Narwekar, while pronouncing his order on January 10 in the Shiv Sena disqualification case, had also rejected the Thackeray faction’s plea to disqualify 16 MLAs of the ruling camp, including Shinde.

The January 12 petitions argued that since the Speaker, in his order, has held Shinde represents the ”real” Shiv Sena and that Gogavale was the legally appointed chief whip of the party, he (Speaker) ought to have disqualified the 14 Sena (UBT) MLAs for their actions against the saffron outfit.

”The final order passed by Speaker erroneously concludes that the grounds as raised by petitioner (Gogavale) are mere allegations and assertions on the part of the petitioner,” the pleas said.

This conclusion by Narwekar was ”ex facie illegal and cannot be sustained”, they submitted.

The pleas said the pro-Thackeray MLAs voted contrary to the whip issued by Gogavale and this was part of the record of the Assembly and hence in no manner can be said to be a mere allegation.

Thackeray had stepped down as chief minister on June 29, 2022, after a section of Shiv Sena MLAs, led by Shinde, revolted against his leadership, leading to the collapse of the three-party MVA government.

The next day, Shinde took oath as the new chief minister of Maharashtra with support from the BJP, the largest party in the state Assembly.

The Shinde group had the support of 37 out of the total 54 Shiv Sena MLAs when the party split in June 2022, the Speaker had noted in his ruling.