Speaker Rahul Narwekar emphasized that during the emergence of rival factions, the Shinde faction had a majority of 37 out of 55 MLAs in the Maharashtra Assembly. Consequently, on Wednesday, Speaker Narwekar ruled that the original Shiv Sena was represented by the Eknath Shinde faction before June 2022, when the rival factions came into play.
As a result of this ruling, he dismissed the disqualification petitions that had been filed by the Uddhav Thackeray faction against the MLAs of the Shinde faction, as well as the disqualification petitions filed by the Shinde faction against the Thackeray faction.
Narwekar stressed that at the time of the emergence of the rival factions, the Shinde faction held a clear majority of 37 out of 55 MLAs. Consequently, Sunil Prabhu was removed from his position as the party whip. Furthermore, he issued a decision affirming the legitimacy of the appointments made by Bharat Gogavale and Eknath Shinde as party whip and leader, respectively.
“When the rival factions emerged, the Shinde faction had an overwhelming majority of 37 out of 55 MLAs.” Subsequent to the emergence of the rival faction, Sunil Prabhu voluntarily resigned as the party’s appointed whip. The Speaker confirmed the legitimate appointments of Bharat Gogavale and Eknath Shinde as the whip and leader of the Shiv Sena Party, respectively.
In addition, Narwekar emphasized that Sunil Prabhu did not have the authority to convene a meeting of the Shiv Sena Legislature Party (SSLP) and noted that the meeting notice was sent via WhatsApp with less than twelve hours’ notice.
“After reviewing the WhatsApp message, it is evident that it was sent at 12:31 am for a meeting scheduled at 12:30 pm. No members of the Shinde faction received notice of the meeting. Their disqualification request is potentially subject to rejection. “It is necessary to reject the petitioner’s claim of disqualification,” he stated.
Furthermore, the Speaker determined that non-attendance at party meetings and expression of dissent outside the legislative chamber were internal party matters. This behavior, at most, could be considered an expression of dissent within the party and was protected by the freedom of speech and expression.
“Non-attendance cannot be treated as grounds for disqualification,” he reiterated.
Consequently, Narwekar declined to disqualify the forty individuals affiliated with the Ekanth Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena. Narwekar addressed a total of 34 petitions submitted by the two rival factions of the Shiv Sena seeking the disqualification of 54 members of the Assembly.
These petitions stemmed from a factional split within the political party in June 2022. The basis for seeking disqualification was the alleged failure of members from both factions to comply with the directives of the party’s Chief Whip, responsible for coordinating the party’s participation in parliamentary proceedings.
In a ruling on the Maharashtra political case, the Constitution Bench, comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices MR Shah, Krishna Murari, Hima Kohli, and PS Narasimha, established that the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly possessed the constitutional authority to make timely decisions on disqualification petitions.
Subsequently, the highest court issued an order mandating that the Speaker reach a decision by December 31, following allegations of undue delay in the proceedings.
The case’s hearing concluded on December 20. A faction of the Shiv Sena, led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, contended that their MLAs had never received whips because none were ever issued, and therefore, no whip violations occurred.
Furthermore, they argued that their withdrawal from the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance was a result of their dissatisfaction with the coalition. Their participation in the government did not constitute a violation of legislative regulations that would have led to disqualification. Members of the Shiv Sena faction led by former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray countered that the rebels had failed to express their opposition when the MVA was initially formed.
