Eknath Shinde-led faction is real Shiv Sena, all disqualification petitions dismissed- Speaker Rahul Narwekar

Eknath Shinde-led faction is real Shiv Sena, all disqualification petitions dismissed: Speaker Rahul Narwekar

Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar on Wednesday, announcing his verdict on the cross-petitions seeking disqualification of Shiv Sena MLAs, said that all petitions seeking disqualification of MLAs are rejected, and no MLA will be disqualified.

“All the petitions seeking disqualification of MLAs are rejected. No MLA disqualified from any faction of Shiv Sena,” Narwekar said.

— ANI (@ANI) January 10, 2024

The Speaker also held that the Shinde faction was the “real political party” when rival groups emerged on June 21.

“I hold that the Shinde faction was the real political party when the rival faction emerged on June 21, 2022,” Narwekar said, adding that the Shinde faction had an overwhelming majority of 37 of 55 MLAs when rival factions emerged.”

He also said that the Sunil Prabhu ceased to be the whip of the party when the rival factions emerged, and that Bharat Gogavale was validly appointed as the Whip.

He also said that the leadership structure in 2018 was not in conformation with the Shiv Sena constitution. He explained that the 2018 leadership structure mentioned the Shiv Sena ‘pakshapramukh’ (party chief) as the highest constitution.

VIDEO | "It is evident that the 2018 leadership structure is not at all in conformity with the constitution of Shiv Sena. In view of this finding alone, it could very well be concluded that 2018 leadership structure, which is not in conformity with the constitution of Shiv Sena,… pic.twitter.com/qI177JTHC7

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) January 10, 2024

However, the Speaker said that in the Shiv Sena constitution, the highest office is Shiv Sena Pramukh and Rashtriya Karyakarini is the highest authority.

“The 2018 leadership structure was not in conformity with the constitution of the Shiv Sena (of 1999 which is relied upon). This leadership structure can not be taken as the yardstick to determine which faction is a real Shiv Sena political party,” the Speaker said.

Narwekar also said that the Speaker has no role to play in tussle between warring political leaders.

Soon after the verdict, celebrations broke out at Balasaheb Bhavan in Mumbai by supporters of the Eknath Shinde-faction.

VIDEO | Visuals of #EknathShinde faction celebrating at Balasaheb Bhavan in Mumbai after Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar delivered the verdict and declared Eknath Shinde-led faction as real Shiv Sena political party. pic.twitter.com/JvfUir9JxH

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) January 10, 2024

Ahead of the verdict, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has said that the Speaker must decide on the matter based on “merit”. The CM said that his group has 67 per cent of the Shiv Sena MLAs and 75 per cent in the Lok Sabha.

On Tuesday, the Shiv Sena-faction of the Uddhav Thackeray faction had upped the ante after it filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court, raising objections to the recent meeting of Shinde and Narwekar. The affidavit was filed on Monday.

“If the judge (Narwekar) is going to meet the accused, what should we expect from that judge,” Thackeray had told the media.

In December, the Supreme Court had extended the January 10 deadline for Speaker Narwekar to decide on the cross petitions. The apex court had directed Narwekar to decide on the disqualification pleas in May.

In June last year, Shinde along with several lawmakers had rebelled against then CM Thackeray, leading to a vertical split in the Shiv Sena party, and a fallout of the Maha Vikas Aghadi, comprising the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Shiv Sena (UBT).

Following this, Shinde’s Shiv Sena faction and the BJP formed the government, with Shinde as the CM.

The Election Commission of India gave the ‘Shiv Sena’ name and ‘bow and arrow’ symbol of the party to the Shinde-led faction, while Thackeray’s factions got ‘flaming torch’ as the symbol.

In July, the Ajit Pawar-led faction of the NCP also joined the Shinde-led government.